This summer, the interview teams at the North Pole were witnessed wearing short sleeve shirts due to the warm weather. A study published on Aug 29 revealed more concerning issues in the supposedly coldest area of the world. Zombie ice from a massive Greenland ice sheet was confirmed to be melting, which would eventually raise global sea levels by at least 10 inches (27 centimeters) on its own, reported Associated Press (AP).
Zombie ice is the kind of ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by larger glaciers. Since glaciers are getting less snow to complement (补充) the amount of ice melted, once the zombie ice is melted, it cannot be re-formed.
Scientists decided to look at the balance of the ice. In perfect balance, snow in the mountains of Greenland flows down and thickens the sides of glaciers, offsetting what's melting on the edges, according to AP. But in the last few decades, there has been less refill and more melting, creating an imbalance.
Study co-author William Colgan at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland told AP that 3.3 percent of Greenland's total ice volume would melt eventually. "Starving would be a good phrase" for what's happening to the ice, Colgan added.
With a great number of natural resources buried under the earth, areas of melted ice revealed treasures that attracted the world's richest men. According to CNN, in early August, there was a "treasure hunt" in Greenland. Billionaires, including Bill Gates and others, financially backed KoBold Metals, a US-based mineral exploration company, to explore the rare metals under the glaciers in Greenland. The company told CNN that since there were enough minerals to power hundreds of millions of electric vehicles, the critical resource was capable of powering the green energy transition.
