Melting ice in Greenland (10 photos)

Ice - the basis of the local culture, but it weakens the base. The entire Greenland ice sheet has become less stable over the past few years due to rising temperatures and early spring thaws. "Greenland ice sheet is no longer in equilibrium, - says the US National Science Foundation, - every year due to melting ice local global sea levels rising by about 0, 5 mm. In 2007, the territory of thawed exceeded the previous record by 10%. Suburb Greenland experienced significant changes - in recent years a huge number of melt water ».






1. It is difficult to get more than Uummannaq - district in northwest Greenland 2800 Eskimo tribes, half of whom live in the settlement. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



2. In Uummannaq boats are more valuable than dogsleds because of unstable ice. It also forces local men to stop the hunting of polar bears and seals and fishing - employment, which is traditionally done by women and children. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



3. The Boy in the robes of fur seals and polar bear resting on a rock in the village. Such clothing for centuries helped the Eskimos to survive in low temperatures, but less stable and decreasing glaciers not only interfere with the Eskimos hunt, they also complicate the life of polar bears and seals. Seals need ice to rest, hunt, fish, and even for the birth of pups. And the bears use ice floes as a place to hunt seals. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



4. Hunters as Ole Jørgen Hammeken increasingly fed their dogs halibut, since the meat polar bears, whales, walruses and seals are now a rarity. "It should be one of the photographer's life disappear, - says the photographer Stanley Greene - and everything else begins to melt like ice, and soon hunters Uummannaq can also disappear. Without a good ice they did not survive. They are no longer "Kings on Ice", they have nothing left. " (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



5. Two fishing boats surrounded by fragile ice off the coast of Ilulissat, Greenland. This city is located near Uummannaq and is home to the largest glacier northwest Greenland - Sermeq Kuyyallek. Recently, scientists have noticed that the glacier erode the warm waters of the ocean. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



6. The Inuit make up the majority of the population of Greenland, which, in turn, is only 55 000 people on the island the size of Texas. Greenland Eskimos share kinship with the Inuit in Canada, Alaska and Siberia. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



7. Signs of change Uummannaq include this field debris, much of which is lost goods from ships beached strong current. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



8. Ole Jørgen Hammeken studied law before going to the hunters. In 2007, after a mail route was impossible to use because of unstable ice, he paved a different route into the interior of the island. He also appeared in several documentaries, as well as in French-Greenlandic movie "On Thin Ice" about its culture. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



9. Huskies enjoy all the surrounding resources, including small animals such as fox, hunted in limited quantities due to its fur. The number of these animals is stable, its population is not threatened with extinction. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)



10. Hunter is an empty settlement near Uummannaq. Some hope that melting ice around Greenland help find here or oil-rich minerals. Indeed, according to the US Geological studies, 31 billion barrels of oil and gas lies off the east coast of Greenland, and another 18 billion - under the Arctic waters between Greenland and Canada. How will this affect the local tribes Eskimos still unknown. (Stanley Greene / Consequences by NOOR)