Its an alarming sign and if reports from Swiss Climatologist Steffen Konrad is to be believed then by the year 2100 the sea levels may rise as much as three feet which would be much higher and faster than all the pessimistic forecasts put together.  This means disastrous and far-reaching consequences like flooding of low-lying areas and mega deltas like the Nile and Brahmaputra.  In simple words this would mean doom to flora, fauna and also to man.

Steffen or Koni as his friends know him, has spent 34 summers working in the high Arctic and Alaska and Canada before he settled in Greenland.  His Greenland Climate Network serves as eyes as ears to climate scientists all over the world.  He has done extensive work and he has brought out news on the Greenland ice sheet, which is definitely not heartening.   He and his colleagues have found out that 2007 has by far been the highest melt year on record on the Greenland ice cap since measurements taken from year 1979.

Climatologists have found that the best places to study global warming would be the Earth’s coldest regions like the Arctic, the Antarctic and the world’s highest mountains that respond to changes in temperature more rapidly than anywhere else on Earth.  And in this sense Greenland has become the barometer for the rest of the world with respect to its sensitivity to climatic changes.  The scientists have found that the water from the melting ice sheet is moving rapidly into the North Atlantic than they would have thought earlier.  In March an ice shelf of 5,000 sq miles has started to collapse in western Antarctic.  In April the largest ice sheet in the northern hemisphere called the Ward Hunt Ice sheet has broken into three pieces.  This means a rapid rise in sea levels than all the pessimistic forecasts put together.

Koni and his friend NASA glaciologist Jay Zwally held on to conventional wisdom when they were younger that ice sheets unlike glaciers do not warm quickly and they loss mass only over hundreds of years even as melting water runs off the top or evaporates.  But as they found out recently this was not so.  The scientists are of the opinion that a major polar melt has started.  This they call the albedo effect wherein the melting ice exposes more land and water causing the earth’s surface to become less reflective and absorb more of sun’s energy.  This is because of buildup of green house gases in the atmosphere and this could mean total disintegration of the Greenland ice sheet.  In the quest to power our modern lives we burn gas, coal and oil which emits carbon dioxide, which in turn contributes to global warming.

This meltdown in Greenland would raise sea levels across the world flooding coastal cities and also send down icebergs into the coast and the infusion of cold fresh water could disrupt ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream, which regulates the Northern Hemisphere’s weather.  If this happens then it is time for the layman to worry.  The rising temperatures could raise global sea level to 19 feet and over the next ninety-three years or so this would have far reaching consequences flooding the Nile and Brahmaputra were thousands of people live.

This would also mean the extinction of Polar bears, the beautiful snowy peaks – the Alps and the mighty Himalayas, the islands in the Caribbean and Maldives, scarcity of water in Leh to name a few.  This means death to the travel and tourism industry and this is one of the greatest ironies of modern times.  It is high time governments wake up and make tourism sustainable.  As much as possible let us avoid leaving our carbon footprints all over the globe and minimize the impact on the environment every time we travel.  The aviation industry is one of the major pollutants as aeroplanes emit carbon dioxide, so let us travel wisely.  An effective way to combat this is to plant more and more trees, which offsets carbon, which in turn offsets the carbondioxide emitted while flying.

People should be made aware that they should conserve energy, turn off heaters and airconditioners when not in use, switch off lights and TV when not required, reuse napkins and towels, use the shower or better still use the bucket to fill water while having a bath and use only as much required.  Walk, cycle or use hybrid cars, which do not pollute the environment.