The rate of melting of Greenland’s glaciers has accelerated fivefold in some areas over the past 20 years, according to a new study published on Friday, DPA reports.

Until the beginning of the new century, the glaciers in the southwest of Greenland retreated by about five meters a year, and today this speed has increased to 25 meters, New York University researchers write in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The shrinking of Greenland’s edge glaciers and ice caps qualifies as particularly severe.

To conduct this study, scientists analyzed more than a thousand of Greenland’s approximately 22,000 glaciers, using not only satellite images, but also 200,000 photographs and aerial photographs taken over the past 130 years.

Anders Björk, a geologist involved in the project, said that according to previous research, Greenland’s largest glaciers are under enormous pressure due to global climate change and rising temperatures.

However, due to inadequate measurement methods, there was no clarity about the extent of this phenomenon.

The new study has removed all doubt about the effects of climate change on Greenland’s glaciers, Björk said. (Source: Agerpres / Photo: Dreamstime.com)