In the summer of 2021, unusually warm atmospheric rivers swept along Greenland, bringing potent melt conditions when the melt season would normally be drawing to a close. The image shows the air temperature over Greenland in the Augusts of 2019, 2020, 2021, compared to the 1991–2020 August average. Although this heatwave was followed by never-before-seen rainfall, it was the heat that led to a major melt, completely removing the surface snow, thereby changing the surface albedo so that Greenland snow and ice absorbed more of the Sun’s rays, further exacerbating the melt.
Read full story: Historic Greenland ice sheet rainfall unravelled