The summit of the Greenland ice sheet sits 3,216 metres above sea level. On August 14, 2021, it rained there for the first time in recorded history. Scientists were so surprised they initially thought their instruments were broken.
Rain on ice doesn’t freeze and stay. It percolates down through the snowpack, accelerating melt from within. What it signals is harder to sit with: the Arctic is warming so fast that weather systems that used to be impossible at that altitude are now just another Tuesday.
This is the ice sheet Donald Trump wants to buy. It holds enough water to raise global sea levels by 7.4 metres. Eight of the world’s largest coastal cities will be affected. Do the math. The smell of cold rain is new, but the disappearing act isn’t.
