Greenland's Fossil Discovery Reveals Ice Melt

Recent research has uncovered alarming details about Greenland's ice sheet. A new study has provided the first direct evidence that not just the edges, but the center of Greenland's ice sheet melted away in the recent geological past, transforming the now-ice-covered island into a green tundra landscape.

Scientists re-examined sediment from a two-mile-deep ice core taken from Greenland's center in 1993 and stored in Colorado for 30 years. They found soil containing willow wood, insect parts, fungi, and a poppy seed in excellent condition.

Paul Bierman from the University of Vermont, who co-led the study with graduate student Halley Mastro and nine other researchers, noted the gravity of the findings. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms that Greenland's ice melted and the island became green during a previous warm period within the last million years. This suggests that the ice sheet is more fragile than previously thought.

If the ice at Greenland's center melted, much of the rest of the ice must have melted too, likely for thousands of years. The study highlights that significant sea-level rise occurred during this period of warming, even though the warming causes were not extreme. The current rate of sea-level rise exceeds an inch per decade and is accelerating. Without drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the ice sheet could nearly disappear over the next few millennia, potentially raising sea levels by about 23 feet.

Previous research had hinted at Greenland's ice sheet being less stable than thought. In 2016, a study suggested that Greenland's ice could be less than 1.1 million years old and that ice-free periods occurred during the Pleistocene. Discoveries from 2019 showed that ice near the coast had melted within the last 416,000 years, indicating that the ice fortress failed more recently than expected.

The new study confirms earlier hypotheses about Greenland's fragility and reveals a lush tundra ecosystem where the ice is now two miles thick. The findings, including spores from spikemoss, a young willow bud scale, and an Arctic poppy seed, demonstrate that the island once supported life beneath the ice.

The research provides clear evidence of a previously hidden tundra landscape, emphasizing the urgent need to address climate change and its impacts.