Video

Greenland is feeling the impact of global warming as year-round temperatures increase and glaciers shrink. Although many Greenlanders are concerned at the changes, they admit the phenomenon has a good side -- it prolongs the tourist season so they can make more money. Greenland, the world's largest island, is mostly covered by an ice cap of about 2.6 million cubic kilometres (624,000 cubic miles) that accounts for a 10th of all the fresh water in the world. Over the last 30 years, because of global warming, its melt zone has expanded by 30 percent, and now the cap loses 100 to 150 cubic km of ice every year -- more than all the ice in the Alps. Global warming, which climate experts blame mainly on human use of fossil fuels, is heating the Arctic faster than anywhere else on Earth. In the past 15 years, winter temperatures have risen about five degrees Celsius (nine Fahrenheit) on the cap, while spring and autumn temperatures increased about three degrees Celsius (five Fahrenheit). Summer temperatures are unchanged. Warmer waters entice seawolf and cod to swim farther north in the Atlantic into Greenlanders' nets. In Disko Bay, the world's iceberg capital, the harbour is now open year-round because winter is no longer cold enough to freeze it solid. Warmer weather also boosts tourism, a source of big development hopes for the 56,000 mostly Inuit inhabitants of Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark. This year about 30,000 tourists are expected to...