What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.
Greenland’s ice sheet just melted 17 times faster than its usual pace during a brutal May heatwave, scientists revealed this week.
And that’s not just bad news for polar bears—it’s bad news for all of us.
“This kind of melting rate simply wouldn’t have happened without climate change,” said Friederike Otto, climate scientist at Imperial College London.
Greenland isn’t alone. Iceland baked under record-breaking heat too—26°C in May, shattering norms by over 13°C.
“It’s a huge deal for this part of the world,” Otto added. “And it affects the whole world massively.”
Why The Concern?
More melting means rising seas, risking floods from Miami to Manila.
Greenland’s indigenous communities are already feeling it, struggling to hunt on thinning ice.
Even local roads and buildings—designed for frigid climates—are being damaged by unexpected flooding.
WWA says this kind of Arctic heat could hit once every 100 years—or more often as the planet warms.
