Ancient Plant Life Reveals Greenland’s Vulnerability to Rapid Ice Melt
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A groundbreaking discovery of well-preserved plant and insect remains beneath Greenland’s ice sheet suggests the vast island was once green, even during periods of lower atmospheric carbon, and is now far more vulnerable to complete melting than previously understood. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, raise alarming implications for global sea level rise in the face of accelerating climate change.
Scientists extracted the organic material from a core sample drilled 3 kilometers deep into the center of Greenland. The discovery challenges long-held assumptions about the stability of the Greenland ice sheet and underscores the urgent need for drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Evidence of a Lost Tundra Ecosystem
The research team was surprised to find three inches of soil within the core containing remarkably preserved willow wood, mushrooms, poppy seeds, spikemoss spores, and even insect compound eyes. This assemblage of organic matter points to the existence of a thriving tundra ecosystem that flourished in Greenland over a million years ago.
“The presence of these fossils is definitive proof that the ice sheet has undergone significant melting events in the past, even when carbon dioxide levels were lower than they are today,” explained a lead researcher, a professor of environmental science at Vermont University.
Implications for Greenland’s Future
The implications of this discovery are profound. The core sample, known as GISP2, was originally drilled in 1993, but scientists only recently began analyzing the sediment at its base for fossilized remains. The analysis reveals that if the ice at the center of Greenland has melted, it indicates that nearly all of the island’s ice has disappeared at some point in the past.
According to projections, if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, nearly the entire Greenland ice sheet could melt over the next few centuries to millennia. This would result in a catastrophic sea level rise of approximately 7 meters, threatening coastal cities worldwide. “Hundreds of millions of people around the world will lose their homes,” the researcher warned, citing a report from Science Alert on January 20, 2026.
Building on Recent Findings
This new research builds upon two key findings from recent years. In 2016, scientists analyzing bedrock from the GISP2 core used radioactive fragments to determine the ice’s age was less than 1.1 million years old – a significantly younger age than previously believed. This finding suggested a history of ice loss.
The results indicated that complete melting at the GISP2 location would likely lead to the ice-free state of 90% of Greenland. While initially controversial, challenging the established theory of Greenland as an “impenetrable ice fortress,” the new fossil evidence provides compelling support.
Further investigation in 2019, conducted by the same team, involved examining ice cores extracted from Camp Century, an abandoned United States military base near the coast of Greenland dating back to the 1960s. These cores also contained leaves and moss, and more precise dating techniques revealed that this section of ice had melted approximately 416,000 years ago.
“The ice must have disappeared, because otherwise there would be no plants, insects and soil fungi,” the researcher stated. “Now we know for sure that the ice is missing not only at Camp Century but also at GISP2 right in the middle of the ice sheet. Now we know the entire ice shelf is vulnerable to melting.”
The evidence is mounting: Greenland’s ice sheet is far more fragile than previously imagined, and its potential collapse poses an existential threat to coastal communities around the globe.
