How the Pandemic is Affecting Arctic Research
One largely unnoticed consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the interruption of many scientific missions in the Arctic. Remote field trips to the northernmost regions of the globe have been canceled or postponed due to travel restrictions, quarantines and other logistical measures implemented to protect local Inuit communities.
In Greenland, the question is an urgent one:according to the Centre for Polar Observation and modelling, its ice sheet is currently shrinking by 270 billion tonnes per year, as melting ice makes an intricate journey via ice streams all the way to the ocean. According to Nasa, if the island’s entire ice sheet melted, the global sea level would rise by 7.4 metres, leaving many coastal areas under water.
The pandemic prevented EGRIP’s international science team from reaching the facility at all during 2020 – which has caused the scientists concern. Even if EGRIP was designed to be crewless for several years, what worries the researchers is the underground drilling and caves the team has made within the ice sheet.
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