Greenland's massive ice sheet is melting faster this summer as the dome of hot air breaking records in Europe also threatens to hasten climate-related sea-level rise.

"The heat wave in Europe has hogged all the attention, with Germany and other countries setting all-time national heat records. Yet the same weather pattern that has brought the furnace-like heat to France, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and other countries has also been kicking the Greenland ice sheet melt season into high gear after a slightly delayed start.

On global temperature anomaly maps, Greenland and parts of Western Europe both stand out for their recent heat. A heat dome parked over Europe caused temperatures to skyrocket to about 40 degrees Celsius or greater (nearly 104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Spain, France and Germany, for example.

Greenland is comparatively freezing, with some weather stations barely making it above 4 degrees Celsius, or 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit, but for the icy continent, in some places on the ice sheet itself, this qualifies as unusually mild."

Andrew Freedman reports for Mashable July 6, 2015. [2]