Greenland Case Study Flashcards
Greenland’s location
Located between Arctic and Atlantic oceans and is found between 60 and 83 degrees latitude north of the equator.
Reasons for current land cover change in Greenland
Greenland is home to a major ice sheet, which covers 1.7 million square km. It’s facing severe ice loss due to melting,
- Ice loss in the 1990s was 33 billion tonnes per year.
- Ice loss by 2018 was around 234 billion tonnes per year.
SHEEPT Factors: Environmental
- Sea level rise has risen 20cm since 20th century
- Species like the Caribou reindeer declining due to habitat loss.
- Greater environmental degradation due to mining of resources.
SHEEPT Factors: Economical
- More tourism, agriculture, mining and construction is creating a more diverse economy.
- Melting ice sheets are exposing gold, copper, iron, diamonds and oil reserves = money for locals
SHEEPT Factors: Social
- Changes to Inuit tradition and lifestyles
- changes to fishing and hunting methods
- warmer climate
Issues and challenges
- If Greenland continues to melt at this pace, the sea levels will continue to rise by 20 to 60cm by 2100
- it creates storm surges and leaves coastal communities very vulnerable
Response and strategies: National
In 2013, Greenland’s parliament voted to allow mining. This is a response to resources becoming more accessible with melting ice. This has helped Greenland become more economically self-sufficient.
Response and strategies: Local
Locals have changed their hunting and fishing methods to adapt to the changing climate and landscape. 90% of Greenland’s export income is derived from fishing.
Response and strategies: Global
Paris Agreement:
The Paris agreement was a landmark international agreement that was adopted by nearly every nation in 2015 to address human induced climate change and its negative impacts
Effectiveness of Paris Agreement
Success:
As of 2019, 185 countries have ratified the treaty
Weaknesses:
Meeting the 2 degree target is very unlikely and there is no accountability from countries
Paris agreement goal
Its overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
The spatial distribution of present-day global land cover ice and water
- 10% of the land is covered by glaciers and ice sheets
- 71% of earth is covered in water
- Greenland and Antarctica contain 99% of the world’s freshwater ice
The spatial distribution of land cover on a global scale that was evident during the last Glacial Maximum
- Sea level was 100-125 meters below now as world’s water stores were frozen in ice
- Permanent summer ice covered approximately 8% of earth’s surface and 25% of land area
- Ice covered every continent
The change in distribution over time from LGM to present day
- Present day 3.1% of earth’s surface and 10.7 % of land’s surface is glaciers
- Every continent apart from Australia is covered
The natural characteristics of glaciers and ice sheets
- Accumulation: new snow added exceeds melting between seasons
- Ablation: melting exceeds new snow build up between seasons
- Equilibrium line: melt = new snow
- Terminus: the “front” of the glacier
- Crevasses
Natural processes causing melting of ice sheets
The Milankovitch cycle: arguing that the solar energy received by earth is not constant and three cycles affect the distance between sun and earth producing periodic natural climatic cycles of global warming
- ENSO Cycle
Human processes causing melting of ice sheets
- Albedo effect: soil reflects 40%, snow reflects 90% and water reflects 10%
- Industrialization increases greenhouse gases, 60% of gas is from cities but they only make up 2% of Earth’s surface
