NASA warns of huge glacier melting in Greenland

Washington - The Space Agency of the United States (NASA acronym in English) said on Thursday that one of the largest glaciers of Greenland, Danish autonomous territory in North America, is melting at an "accelerated" speed, which will have consequences which can be noticed in the coming decades.

This is the Zachariae Isstrom glacier, which alone contains approximately 5% of the ice covering the island, which corresponds to 91 780 square kilometers, and that was reclassified from the "glaciologicamente stable", according to an analysis made in 2012, for " accelerated melting. "

In a study funded by NASA and published today in the scientific journal "Science", the researchers found that Zachariae Isstrom is pouring 5 billion tons of ice mass each year on the Atlantic Ocean.

If the glacier to melt completely, will be able to raise, alone, sea levels worldwide in more than 46 cm.

"The northern Greenland glaciers are changing rapidly. The shape and dynamics of Zachariae Isstrom changed dramatically in recent years," commented co-author of the report and researcher at the University of California at Irvine, Jeremie Mouginot.

"The glacier is crumbling and releasing large volumes of icebergs into the ocean, which means that sea levels will rise in the coming decades", said the scientist.

Beside Zachariae Isstrom is another great glacier, Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden which is also melting at an accelerated rate.

The two glaciers contain about 12% of the mass of the Greenland ice sheet, so if both disintegrate completely, sea levels worldwide will rise by almost a meter.