A study led by the University of Barcelona and published in the journal Nature Communications shows that climate change has profoundly altered extreme episodes of melting in the Greenland ice sheet by making them more frequent, more extensive and more intense. Since 1990, the area affected by extreme melting episodes has increased at a rate of 2.8 million km² per decade. Additionally, the production of water from ice melt has increased more than sixfold, rising from 12.7 gigatons per decade to 82.4 gigatons per decade.

In a context of growing international attention on Greenland—both due to rapid changes in the physical environment and cryosphere and the resulting geopolitical implications—the study findings take on special relevance. Bonsoms, the article’s lead author, says that “the rapid transformation of the ice sheet not only has global environmental consequences, such as sea level rise and possible alterations in ocean circulation, but also places the Arctic at the center of new strategic, economic and territorial dynamics.”