Remote, icy, and mostly pristine, **Greenland** plays a significant role in the daily **weather** that affects billions of people and in the **climate changes** occurring worldwide.
According to Geoff Dabelko, professor of Security and Environment at **Ohio University**, Greenland intersects climate change, resource scarcity, tense geopolitics, and new trade patterns.
The world’s largest island is now “the center of **geopolitical and geoeconomic competition** in many ways,” partly due to climate change, Dabelko stated.
Since his first term, President-elect **Donald Trump** has expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, which is a **semi-autonomous territory of Denmark**, a long-time ally of the United States and a founding member of **NATO**. It also hosts a large US military base.
## Why is Greenland of interest?
“Think of Greenland as an open refrigerator door or a thermostat for a warming world, located in a region that is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet,” said climate scientist David Holland from **New York University**.
Inside Greenland are **valuable rare earth minerals** essential for telecommunications, as well as uranium, billions of barrels of untapped oil, and a vast supply of natural gas that used to be inaccessible but is becoming more accessible.
Currently, many of these minerals are primarily supplied by China, so other countries like the United States are interested, according to Dabelko. Three years ago, the Danish government suspended **offshore oil drilling** in the territory of 57,000 inhabitants. But more than oil, gas, or minerals, there is the ice: an “absurd” amount, said climate scientist Eric Rignot from the **University of California, Irvine**.
If the ice were to melt, coastlines worldwide would change so drastically that the threat would become the basis for a Hollywood disaster movie. Greenland contains enough ice that if it all melted, **world sea levels would rise by 7.4 meters**. According to a 2022 study, nearly 30 centimeters of that ice are the so-called zombie ice, doomed to melt no matter what.
Since 1992, Greenland has lost about 182 billion tons (169 billion metric tons) of ice annually, and losses will reach 489 billion tons (444 billion metric tons) per year by 2019.
Greenland will be “a key point of interest” throughout the 21st century due to the **melting effect** of its ice sheet on sea levels, stated Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. “It will likely contribute more significantly in the future.” That impact is “perhaps unstoppable,” said Holland from New York University.
## Other climatic factors at play
Greenland also acts as the engine and the on-off switch of a key ocean current that influences **Earth’s climate** in many ways, including hurricane activity and winter storms. It is called the **Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation** (AMOC), and it is slowing down because Greenland’s melting is pouring more freshwater into the ocean, according to Serreze.
A halt in the AMOC conveyor belt is a much-feared climate tipping point that could plunge Europe and parts of North America into prolonged cold spells, a scenario depicted in the 2004 movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’.
“If this global current system were to substantially slow down or even collapse altogether, as we know has happened in the past, normal **temperature and precipitation patterns worldwide** would change drastically,” says climatologist Jennifer Francis from the Woodwell Climate Research Center.
“Agriculture would derail, ecosystems would crash, and ‘normal’ weather would be a thing of the past.” Greenland is also changing color as it melts, shifting from the white of ice, which reflects solar light, heat, and energy away from the planet, to the **blue and green of the ocean** and land, which absorb much more energy, Holland said.
Greenland plays a role in the dramatic freeze currently affecting two-thirds of the United States. And as early as 2012, meteorological patterns over Greenland helped steer Superstorm Sandy toward New York and New Jersey, according to winter meteorology expert Judah Cohen from the private company Atmospheric and Environmental Research.
Due to Greenland’s ice mountains, it also alters the jet stream patterns, bringing storms worldwide and dictating daily weather. Often, especially in winter, a high-pressure blocking system in front of Greenland causes **Arctic air** to move west and east, hitting North America and Europe, Cohen explains.
## The geopolitical importance of Greenland
Greenland, situated between the United States, Russia, and Europe, is a geopolitical prize that the United States and other countries have been seeking for over 150 years. Its value is even greater as the Arctic opens up to **navigation and trade**. None of this takes into account the unique aspect of the ice-covered island, which holds some of the oldest rocks on Earth.
“I find it incredibly beautiful. It takes my breath away to be there,” says Holland, who has conducted research on the ice more than 30 times since 2007. “Pieces of ice the size of the Empire State Building break off the cliffs and fall into the ocean. And also, the beautiful fauna, all the **seals and killer whales**. It’s simply stunning.”
*Cover photo: AP Photo/Felipe Dana*
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