Large tracts of the ice sheet that melted in Greenland are now supporting vegetation,

putting the region at danger for increasing sea levels, increased greenhouse gas
emissions, and landscape instability.

Large tracts of ice have been replaced by wetlands, shrub growth, and barren rock
since the 1980s, according to a study that has tracked the shift in the environment.

Based on the examination of satellite data, it has been determined that around 11,000
square miles of Greenland's glaciers and ice sheet have melted in the last thirty years.
This is an area comparable to Albania's size and represents 1.6% of the country's entire
ice cover.

The area of land covered by vegetation has expanded by 33,774 sq miles as the ice
has receded, surpassing the area covered at the start of the research.

The results indicate that wetlands, a source of methane emissions, are nearly
quadrupling throughout Greenland.

The area around Kangerlussuaq in the southwest and certain isolated locations in the
northeast had the biggest increases in dense marsh vegetation.

According to scientists, the ice is receding due to rising air temperatures. During the
1970s, the area warmed up twice as quickly as the rest of the world. The average
yearly air temperature on Greenland from 2007 to 2012 was 3C higher than the
average from 1979 to 2000.

The results show indications that additional ice loss is being caused by the growing
vegetation.

Co-author of the research that was published in the journal Scientific Reports,
Jonathan Carrivick is an Earth scientist at the University of Leeds. He stated: "We have
seen signs that the loss of ice is triggering other reactions." It will lead to additional ice
loss and "greening" of Greenland, wherein thinning ice exposes exposed rock, which is
subsequently inhabited by shrub and tundra.

"At the same time, silt and sediment are being moved by water released from melting
ice, eventually forming fenlands and wetlands."
The report's lead author, Dr. Michael Grimes, stated: "The flow of sediments and
nutrients into coastal waters is being significantly altered by the expansion of
vegetation, which is happening in tandem with the retreat of glaciers and the ice
sheet."

For the Indigenous inhabitants, whose customary subsistence hunting methods

depend on the stability of these fragile ecosystems, these shifts are especially crucial.
Furthermore, Greenland's melting ice sheet is a major factor in the rise in global sea
levels, a development that presents serious problems for the future.

To keep an eye on the situation, the researchers have utilized their data to create a
model that will identify Greenland regions that are most likely to undergo "marked and
accelerated" change in the future.