COPENHAGEN: The ice cap in the northern hemisphere is melting a lot more rapidly that scientists thought, according to new research published on Thursday by the Danish National Space Centre.

“Until 2004, the glacier mass in the southeastern part of the island lost about 50 to 100 cubic kilometres per year. After this date, the melting rate accelerated to 300 cubic kilometres per year. It’s a jump of 400 percent, which is very worrying,” National Space Centre head researcher and project chief Abbas Khan said.

The ice cap, located in Greenland, is currently melting four times more rapidly than at the beginning of the decade according to the study. Glaciers in southeastern Greenland release icebergs into the sea, corresponding to a giant ice cube measuring 6.5 kilometres per side.

“It’s an alarming development,” Khan said. “We do not know if it is due to global warming or other factors.” The results of the study were made in conjunction with US-based University of Colorado and published on Thursday on an online edition of Geophysical Research Letters magazine.

The researchers measured ice melt with ultra-sensitive Global Positioning Systems (GPS) stations located in the mountains and along the ice cap. The measurements indicated that the mountains hugging glaciers in the southeastern part of Greenland rose four to five centimetres per year, and that the banks of the glaciers thinned 100 metres per year. The area of the Greenlandic ice cap measures 1.7 square kilometres and is 3.2 kilometres thick.—AFP