Rain at the highest point on Greenland for the first time

About Greenland

• Greenland is the world's largest island, located between the Arctic region and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
• Greenland's highest mountain Mt. Gunnbjörn is also the highest peak located north of the Arctic Circle. Therefore, it does not just hold the title of being the highest peak in Greenland but is also the highest peak in the Arctic (3694 m/12120 ft).
• Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
• Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers) for more than a millennium, beginning in 986.
• The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through Northern Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13th century.
• Today, the population is concentrated mainly on the southwest coast, while the rest of the island is sparsely populated. Greenland is divided into five municipalities – Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qeqertalik, Qeqqata, and Avannaata.
• It has two unincorporated areas – the Northeast Greenland National Park and the Thule Air Base. The latter, while under Danish control, is administered by the United States Air Force.
• Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside of Antarctica.
• With a population of 56,081 (2020), it is the least densely populated region in the world.
• About a third of the population lives in Nuuk, the capital and largest city; the second-largest city in terms of population is Sisimiut, 320 kilometres (200 mi) north of Nuuk.
• The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements.
• Greenland contains the world's largest and northernmost national park, Northeast Greenland National Park (Kalaallit Nunaanni Nuna eqqissisimatitaq).
• In 1979, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland; in 2008, Greenlanders voted in favour of the Self-Government Act, which transferred more power from the Danish government to the local Greenlandic government.
• Under the new structure, Greenland has gradually assumed responsibility for policing, the judicial system, company law, accounting, auditing, mineral resource activities, aviation, law of legal capacity, family law and succession law, aliens and border controls, the working environment, and financial regulation and supervision.
• The Danish government still retains control of monetary policy and foreign affairs including defence.
• At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, mostly coming from hydropower.

Why in news?

• Rain fell at the highest point on the Greenland ice sheet last week for the first time on record, another worrying sign of warming for the ice sheet already melting at an increasing rate.
• “That's not a healthy sign for an ice sheet,” said Indrani Das, a glaciologist with Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “Water on ice is bad... It makes the ice sheet more prone to surface melt.”
• Not only is water warmer than the usual snow, it is also darker – so it absorbs more sunlight.
• This meltwater is streaming into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise. Already, melting from Greenland's ice sheet – the world's second-largest after Antarctica's – has caused around 25% of global sea level rise seen over the last few decades, scientists estimate. That share is expected to grow, as global temperatures increase.