Time for Some Cold Weather
It’s time for another adventure… One that takes us deep into
the far northern reaches of the Arctic on a quest for wildlife such as polar
bears, walrus, belugas and narwhals (hopefully we see them). We’ll navigate the eastern entrance of
Canada’s Northwest Passage, exploring Greenland’s fjords and the
ilulissat glacier (a UNESCO world heritage site). With crazy heat waves, I think it's about time for some colder weather!
Nature, at its most powerful, calls the shots in Greenland. It is the world’s biggest non-continental island that is more than 80% icecap. Unfortunately with global warming, that is rapidly changing. April 2016 brought worrisome news to climatologists... Greenland's annual melting season started two months early. By June, the thermometer had hit 75.5 degrees... the hottest temperature ever recorded for Greenland in June. New York City, which is further south, was roughly 5 degrees cooler on the same day.
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| Our expedition route (National Geographic Expeditions) |
Nature, at its most powerful, calls the shots in Greenland. It is the world’s biggest non-continental island that is more than 80% icecap. Unfortunately with global warming, that is rapidly changing. April 2016 brought worrisome news to climatologists... Greenland's annual melting season started two months early. By June, the thermometer had hit 75.5 degrees... the hottest temperature ever recorded for Greenland in June. New York City, which is further south, was roughly 5 degrees cooler on the same day.
The Greenland Ice Sheet is 656,000 square miles which is
about one quarter the size of the contiguous 48 US states. During the last
record melt season (in 2012), the ice sheet lost 562 billion tons of freshwater. Losing Greenland’s entire ice sheet would add an
estimated 23 feet to sea levels worldwide, which would drown New York City,
London, Kolkata and almost all of the Bahamas.
It is mind boggling to think that even after these
statistics, people still don’t believe in global warming. For those of us who
do believe in global warming, it never fully hits you until you see it for
yourself. With the hustle and bustle of our daily
lives, we often ignore the world around us. We must begin to care before it’s
too late… if it isn’t already.
That's all for now... Stay tuned for more
Greenland/Iceland/Canadian High Arctic adventures. Also, be sure to hit the
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internet! Follow my instagram @elissatitle for more photography posts.
(Facts from Science Magazine)
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