The Impact of Melting Ice on Greenland and the Arctic

The US administration's renewed interest in buying Greenland raises questions about the matter. First of all, it should be remembered that Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, a member of NATO. So what does the United States want? 

The Impact of Melting Ice on Greenland and the Arctic

The US administration talks about national security, but someone else mentions minerals. Greenland has rare earth minerals, a collection of 17 metals used in sophisticated advanced industries, as well as uranium and iron. Due to global warming, some of the ice covering Greenland will melt, perhaps allowing mining companies to access some of these minerals.

A 2023  survey found that Greenland has most of the 34 minerals classified as "critical raw materials" by the European Commission; the common ones are graphite, copper, nickel, zinc, gold, diamonds, iron ore, titanium-vanadium, tungsten, and uranium.

While sea level rise and melting ice sheets should have our attention, the extraordinary transformation occurring in the Arctic happens along the glaciated coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. A novel and important effect is the conversion of large areas of sea to land. 

A recent article in Nature Climate Change outlines the transformation of the Arctic and quantifies the expanse of newly formed coasts while discussing how they will change over time. The research, led by Jan Kavan and colleagues, meticulously analysed the retreat of marine-terminating glaciers across the Northern Hemisphere between 2000 and 2020. Their findings reveal a staggering 2,466 kilometres of new coastline has been exposed in just two decades, averaging an impressive 123 kilometres of new coast every single year.

To put this into perspective, that's roughly the entire coastline of Portugal being unveiled annually in the Arctic. Greenland is the primary contributor to this newly exposed land, accounting for a staggering 66% of it. 

Also, other Arctic systems are also significant contributors to new coastal exposure. 

The Northern Canadian Arctic, the Russian Arctic, and Svalbard each accounted for around 10%. Alaska, the Southern Canadian Arctic, and Iceland had new coastal exposure as well.

Among other factors, this also includes other potential damages.

The Impact of Melting Ice on Greenland and the Arctic

However, not every retreating glacier results in the addition of a new coastline. The authors found that 85% of the 196 studied marine-terminating glaciers retreated during 2000–2020, but only 71% of those exposed new coastline as a result of having retreated. This difference can arise when the retreat occurs infrequently across the lateral margins of the glacier terminus or in outlet glaciers or marine-terminating ice caps that are not laterally connected to land. 

In northwest Russia, specifically Franz Joseph Land, we observed this pattern, where less than half of the marine-terminating glaciers studied contributed to new coastline formation. 

This glacier alone has contributed to almost 50% of the anisotropy in coastline loss in the Northern Hemisphere, which emphasizes that glacial activity can be very dynamic and, at times, unpredictable. 

The authors also identified 35 islands larger than 0.5 km² that were either completely newly exposed from glacial retreat or lost glacial attachment to the mainland between 2000 and 2020. 

These phenomena occurred largely in Greenland. Interestingly, some of these "newly" exposed islands were observable on maps dating from the 1960s, indicating periods of glacial advance and retreat in the more recent past. The newly emerged coastlines are not static landscapes. 

As a result, and without the effects of ice cementation, wave action can erode, transport, and deposit sediments in a very active coastal environment as it is influenced by ocean currents, tides, and wind waves. Furthermore, the newly formed coastlines will be subject to extreme wave action, including tsunami-like events triggered by glacier calving, rolling icebergs, and landslides, changing the functionality and morphology of the coastlines. 

The Impact of Melting Ice on Greenland and the Arctic

The creation of these new coastal environments has major ecological implications, forming new habitats across significant areas of the Arctic. These young paraglacial coastlines, characterised by a high sediment flux rate and rapidly changing landforms, are likely to be colonised by new plant and animal communities. 

Thus, while this ecological transformation is likely to be important, there are also risks to local communities and economic activity associated with the change. 

Increased landslide-related tsunami risk, as was the case in Greenland in 2017, puts infrastructure and human life at risk. In the tourism sector, calving glacier fronts and iceberg transport routes, which are unstable in newly formed coastlines, also risk to travel and safety. On the other hand, glacier retreat can increase the availability of sediments and economic opportunities in one region, like Greenland. 

The kilometres of new coastline emerging are not just lines on a map; they represent a profound and ongoing reshaping of the Arctic, with far-reaching ecological and societal implications.