Scientists ‘stunned’ by plants found a mile under Greenland icesheet, revealing previous total ice loss

A rediscovered core drilled in the 1960s suggests an apocalyptic climate scenario now faces us, writes Harry Cockburn

The preserved remains of ancient plants lie under here. Greenland’s icesheet is up to 1.9 miles thick and holds vast quantities of water, which if released, would swamp coastal cities around the world (Getty)

If all the ice on Greenland melted immediately, the world would experience around 20 feet of sea level rise, which would devastate coastal population centres around the world, displacing millions of people.

Now a “troubling” new discovery has revealed that in previous periods of warming - which charted a course not dissimilar to the human-caused climate crisis currently underway - this is precisely what happened.

The evidence was stumbled upon quite by accident, after the rediscovery of long lost cores drilled through the ice back in the mid-1960s.