News inputs from Swasti Sharma
Greenland, Aug 21: Greenland’s Summit Station experienced the first-ever rain fall event in recorded history since 1950. It is located at 3,216 meters above sea level. It is an arctic research station. It recorded around 7 billion tons of rainfall across the ice sheet. The air temperatures remained above freezing for about nine hours. According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), the rain continued from 14thto 16th August. Due to the unprecedented rain, about 21.3 million square kilometers of ice melted. The rainwater was warmer and darker than ice, so it absorbed more sunlight and helped in melting the ice. This melted ice will cause a rise in the sea level. Temperatures at the ice cap almost never lift above freezing but have now increased three times in less than a decade. It is a major threat to the ice-capped Greenland.
