For the past few years we have seen the Arctic ice sheet melt, dropping to lower and lower levels. And though we haven’t seen the 2008 melt season drop below 07’s record numbers, the ice has melted in such a way that now the Arctic has become an island.

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Researchers who have been monitoring daily satellite images of Greenland’s glaciers from Ohio State University have discovered break-ups at two of the largest glaciers within the last month.

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Over the past 12 months there has been one big fear lingering over the environmental community. It was a year ago that we were watching the Arctic ice disappearing at a tremendous rate, and saw it slip to its lowest levels in recorded history. Subsequently, we also saw the complete opening of the Northwest Passage for the first time in recorded history.

With the dawn of 2008’s northern summer, fears were that that minimum level of ice would once again be broken. However according to experts, no new records will be broken this year.

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The Canadian military recently made what it called a “sovereignty patrol” of its Arctic territory. Joined by scientists, they found major new fractures far in to Canada’s claimed Arctic region. The team found a network of cracks that stretch for more than 10 miles on Ward Hunt, the region’s largest ice-shelf.

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This report adds weight to a growing number of reports and findings that are pointing to 2008’s summer as a turning point for the Arctic region; one where there could be no sea-ice at all.

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Traditionally March marks the time of year when the Arctic ice is at its highest extent after the Northern Hemisphere’s winter comes to a close. For 40 years NASA satellites have tracked the ice coverage of both Arctic and Antarctic.

So with March half way gone, what is the Arctic looking like?

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Today is not a day about looking at the dangers of the Arctic ice-melt, or how the world is going downhill so fast Eddie the Eagle couldn’t keep up. Today we look at what could very well be the sole benefit of the global warming phenomenon in the northern hemisphere, and possibly, the world.

They call it the largest island in the world, but I know that that’s not true, because I’m living on the largest island in the world. I just happen to also be living on the smallest continent in the world, so Australia seems to be disqualified as largest island for having too many geographical records. So to step up to fill our gold medal place (continuing our Olympic theme) is Greenland, some 5,469,200 km² smaller than Australia.

Those rising temperatures that are causing the Greenland ice-sheet (amongst others) to melt is also responsible for what scientists believe will be a boom for the economy.

"The warmer climate will have a definite positive effect on Greenland’s economic possibilities and development," said a report conducted by WWF Denmark (Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark).

In a country where in the south some 23,500 sheep and lambs are slaughtered annually, the grass-growing season continues to extend each year. This subsequently is boosting the productivity for some 60 farms across the region.

For many school children one of the tougher geological lessons to learn is that Iceland has no ice, and that Greenland is actually very rarely green at all. This lack of green has hampered vegetable production in the country. However, locally grown potatoes broccoli and other vegetables that have never before been cultivated are making their landmark appearances on Greenland supermarket shelves (or wherever there veggies are sold).

And for the fishing industry, with warming waters supplies of cod – still too small to be commercially beneficial – are making their way north to Greenland waters. With time, they will grow larger as they are more accustomed to the waters, as the halibut supplies are already doing.

Other economic boons are being uncovered, literally, as once ice-covered mineral deposits reveal supplies of gold, diamond, oil and natural gasses. Added economic input from hydroelectricity supplied by abundant meltwater could soon make independence from Denmark – whom they are financially dependent upon – affordable for Greenland.

All of that being said, and forming a nice case for anyone looking to beat on global warming advocates, there are numerous negatives as well that come with such economic growth.

Native Inuit subsistence hunters are suffering with the fluctuations in their landscapes. "The warming of the ocean is making the ice so thin that people living from hunting are not able to follow the routes that they used to," said Lene Kielsen Holm, sustainable development advisor for the Greenland arm of the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Nuuk.. "They are seeing more and more accidents."

The Inuit’s used to hunt seals, walruses, and other animals along the sea-ice, but with it forming ever later and disappearing two months earlier, their futures become even more uncertain. The Qaanaaq region of northwestern Greenland was scene to a near escape, after storms broke up the sea-ice causing the loss of their hunting gear and their sled dogs.

"If they can’t go hunting, they can’t feed their dogs," she added.

What’s worse for natives to Greenland is that with a population only 57,000 in size, they lack the infrastructure to support multinational oil and mining companies. "Foreigners would have to be invited to come here, and maybe in the near future we could be in the situation of being the minority in our own country."

Other uncertainties plague the large northern island, including the disturbance to the scenery and its more native inhabitants. For example, ringed seals—which depend on summer sea-ice for breeding and were once common throughout Greenland—are moving farther north.

And possibly the most famous animal to be suffering at the moment is the polar bear who, according to a WWF report, "within the next 50 years … will probably only be found in the very northwest corner of Greenland."

Will people try and use Greenland’s chance at economic freedom and growth as a rallying point for those opposed to effecting global change? We can hardly think otherwise, considering the cynicism and fervor with which some people view our own points of view on the matter.

Some may say that this is a silver lining for Greenland, but the problem with silver linings is that there are usually bigger clouds behind them.

National Geographic - Global Warming Good for Greenland?

Photo Courtesy of National Geographic