Rain falls at summit of Greenland ice cap for the first time in history
Scientists so unprepared for phenomenon, they had no gauges to measure it.
Rain has fallen at the peak of the Greenland ice cap for the first time since records began. Temperatures at the 3,216-metre summit are normally well below freezing and scientists were so unprepared for the unprecedented phenomenon that they had no gauges set up to measure it.
The rain fell during an exceptionally hot three days earlier this month when temperatures were 18°C higher than average. Melting was seen across the entire island and an estimated 7bn tonnes of water was released as rain.
Ted Scambos from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre at the University of Colorado told CNN:
“What is going on is not simply a warm decade or two in a wandering climate pattern. This is unprecedented. We are crossing thresholds not seen in millennia, and frankly this is not going to change until we adjust what we’re doing to the air.”
