In the past few days, a research report published in the "Communications-Earth and Environment" of the authoritative scientific weekly "Nature" caused quite a stir. The content was that due to climate warming, Greenland's The volume of the island's ice sheet melted was 15% greater than the record set in 2012, a super record-breaking amount of nearly 532 billion tons of ice melted.
What concept? Imagine that Greenland melted an average of 1 million tons of ice per minute throughout 2019. This melted ice could fill 7 Olympic swimming pools - 50 meters long, 25 meters wide and 3 meters deep - every second. Or it could flood the entire state of California, forming an ocean 1.25 meters deep.
The heartbeat does not last for two or three days. What kind of treasure island is Greenland?
On August 20 last year, Trump angrily tweeted that he canceled his planned state visit to Denmark on September 2 because "the Danish Prime Minister is not interested in discussing the purchase of Greenland."
Yes, the United States wants to buy Greenland, but Denmark won't sell it.
This is not the first time that the United States has been interested in Greenland. As early as 1860, President Andrew Johnson had considered purchasing Greenland; in 1946, President Truman offered another US$100 million to purchase Greenland from Denmark, but was rejected.
Greenland is one of the Danish territories located in northeastern North America. It covers an area of 2 million square kilometers and is the largest island in the world. The island is severely cold all year round and most of it is covered by ice and snow. There are more than 50,000 local indigenous Inuit people living on it, and some people also call them Eskimos.
Why does the United States care so much about such a "bitter and cold place"?
Greenland is located at the junction of North America and Europe. On the one hand, it is rich in mineral resources and is known as the "Aladdin's Cave" with oil, natural gas and rare earth minerals.
"Financial Times" reported: "Greenland is estimated to contain about 38.5 million tons of rare earth oxides, while the total amount of rare earth oxides in other parts of the world is about 120 million tons." With the climate Warming and ice melting are accelerating, and mineral resources that were previously difficult to exploit are gradually becoming ready for exploitation.
On the other hand, due to climate warming and melting sea ice, the new Arctic sea route through the Arctic Ocean has increased Greenland's value sharply. Greenland is the central landmass of the three major Arctic shipping lanes. Once it melts and forms new shipping lanes, it will become a hub connecting North America, Northern Europe, and East Asia.
Melting sea ice promotes new polar routes
Third, strengthen military deployment. According to a defense treaty signed between Denmark and the United States in 1951, the US military has the right to use the Thule Air Force Base in northern Greenland. Experts analyzed that "especially after the United States withdraws from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, it can deploy short- and medium-range missiles in Greenland and Forward-facing surveillance radars and even missile defense systems are being deployed to seek absolute security for the United States."
It is melting at an unprecedented rate and is irreversible. Scientists call for immediate action
First of all, it will lead to sea damage. The plane rises.
This is by no means alarmist. The biggest factor causing global sea level rise today is the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Reports show that the average annual global sea level rise from 2005 to 2017 was about 3.5 mm, of which about 0.76 mm was related to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
If climate warming maintains its current rate, the Greenland ice sheet will raise global sea levels by at least 10 centimeters around 2100.
If all the Greenland ice sheets melt, sea levels will rise by 7 meters. 360 million people in coastal cities around the world will be flooded.
The real risk from rising sea levels is storm flooding hitting high-density coastal cities. For every few centimeters of sea level rise, 1 million people will face flooding every year. Hurricane Sandy, which hit New York in 2012, was a hurricane that had not happened in 500 years. If you look back at history, this does not happen often. It has never happened. If you look at the Thames River in London, the embankments have been built three times higher since the Middle Ages, just because of flooding. New York and London, along with 18 coastal metropolitan areas around the world, will experience increased flooding due to rising sea levels.
New York has already begun to take measures, with the current mayor proposing a $10 billion "Protect Lower Manhattan Plan." Climate change has an economic cost. The question is who will pay?
However, Greenland is not alone in causing sea level rise.
The entire Arctic Circle is warming disproportionately. In the past 40 years, the area of Arctic summer sea ice has decreased by nearly half; and 90% of the heat after climate warming has been absorbed by the ocean, resulting in The sea water itself is also thermally expanding. In other words, even without Greenland, sea level itself is rising.
Rising sea levels will affect the global ecological and climate systems, and the consequences will be unbearable for mankind.
Do you still remember that the melting Greenland ice sheet will raise global sea levels by at least 10 centimeters around 2100? Is 2100 far away? That is when the baby born this year will turn 80.
For some politicians, Greenland’s treasure is only of military, resource and geopolitical significance, but for scientists studying climate change, Greenland is a real treasure, and its existence Like the "canary in the mine" - when it comes to detecting temperature changes in other parts of the earth, Greenland's temperature is a precursor and an early warning.
As an individual, if I think about my children and grandchildren, we know that we have to control global warming, which is not only melting ice, but also has many other consequences. For example, in Germany, we are experiencing An extreme drought has never happened before.
As one of my colleagues said, we will be the generation that melts the most glaciers, and we will be the generation remembered by the world for changing the face of the earth. I feel like this is just the beginning, and I think what we can learn from the changes in the Arctic Circle is that this change is a fundamental change for the entire climate system, and everyone will be affected.
The melting of the Greenland ice sheet is irreversible, but we can slow down the rate at which it melts. To save it is to save ourselves.
How to save? Reduce carbon emissions - drive less, fly less, eat less meat, and buy less fast-moving clothing.
Trump wants to run counter to the interests of all mankind?
In the Paris Climate Agreement formulated in 2015, the international community reached a goal: to control the increase in the earth's average temperature within this century to within 2 degrees Celsius, and to control it as much as possible to the level of the pre-industrial period. Within 1.5 degrees Celsius above.
China is an important promoter and staunch practitioner of the Paris Agreement. In the "China's Position Paper on the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the United Nations" released on September 10, we told the international community:
While facing arduous development tasks such as improving people's livelihood, China actively undertakes tasks that are in line with its own development stage and We have implemented a series of policy actions to respond to climate change, fulfilled our 2020 climate action goals ahead of schedule, and made significant contributions to the global response to climate change.
On November 4, 2020, the day after this year’s US presidential election, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
As the country with the largest cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, the largest exporter of solid waste, and the largest consumer of plastics per capita, the United States
has withdrawn from multilateral contracts for the selfish interests of "America First" Refusing to fulfill global obligations runs counter to the interests of all mankind.
By the way, as mentioned earlier, the United States has been coveting Greenland for more than 100 years without success. Guess what happened? In June this year, the United States opened a consulate in Greenland for the first time in nearly 70 years. This is an important sign.
Everyone on the street knows that Sima Zhao is still so attached to this treasure island.
(Original title: "The treasure island that the United States has long wanted to buy is melting at an unprecedented speed."
Editor Qian Yi)