Scandinavian Royals visit Greenland

Hand out picture from a previous visit by the Royals to Svalbard. Photo: Veronica Melå, The Royal Court.

The Royals of three Scandinavian nations are heralding the dangers of climate change.

The Royals from Denmark, Sweden and Norway traveled Wednesday 27 May to Greenland to see first hand through 1 June the impact of greenhouse gas warming on glaciers, industry and Arctic life.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden were accompanied by six scientists, who showed the Royals direct evidence of climate change. “We hope they will raise awareness about what is occurring,” says Minik Rosing, a geologist at the University of Copenhagen who helped organize the trip.

The idea for the adventure was spawned at Rosing’s office during one of Prince Frederik’s visits for coffee and scientific discourse. He contacted his Royal cousin counterparts from Sweden and Norway, and Rosing worked on the scientific team – which also includes researchers from Sweden, Norway, and the United States.

The group spent time on the Danish fisheries inspection ship, HDMS Ejna Mikkelsen, during normal cruising duties in the region. It will fly to The North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project at research station Summit, where an international team is extracting a core for a deep ice record of interglacial periods. And there will be a visit to the University of Copenhagen’s Arctic Station at Qeqertarsuaq on Disko Island.

The UNESCO World Heritage site at Illulissat Ice Fiord – which reportedly spawned the iceberg that sunk the Titanic – also will let Royals see first hand the 15-kilometre ice retreat there in recent years.

With scientists and politicians from the United States to the United Kingdom complaining the public hasn’t been sufficiently educated about the dangers of climate change, the Royals’ visit comes none too late.

Source: Nature.com