Blog note. Jesus indicated that ‘fearful sights’ (various natural disasters) would occur leading up to the time known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation (a combined seven year period of great destruction on earth). Although these types of things have occurred in the past for centuries and thousands of years, they could be identified as the ‘season of the times’ due to the ferociousness of these events. They would be occurring in greater intensity, severity, frequency, size, duration, scope … just like the pains that a woman experiences in labor the farther along she is in the labor process. We are in the ‘season of the times’ that comes just before the seven (7) year Tribulation/Great Tribulation period

… And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:11).

… And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (Luke 21:25)

… Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken; (Luke 21:26)

… This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)
Jesus is giving a series of prophecies about what to look for as the age of grace comes to a close. These verses are several of many such prophecies from throughout the Bible. 2017 was the worst year in recorded history for the intensity, frequency, severity, duration and occurrence of a large number of severe natural disasters worldwide. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, torrential flooding, unprecedented wildfires in unusual places, devastating droughts, excessive/scorching heat setting records everywhere, record snowfalls in Europe and Russia. Snow in the Arabia. This list can go on. Most studied Eschatologists believe these ‘fearful sights’ and massive natural disasters are all part of the ‘CONVERGENCE’ of signs that this Biblical and prophetic age is closing. Most people who study prophecy are familiar with the routine reference(s) made that these things will be like a woman having labor.

Just in time for Christmas. Forget the sleigh and eight (8) tiny reindeer. Santa is going to need a big canoe and eight (8) large seals. Greenland’s ice is melting Seven (7) times faster than it did the last time Santa’s reindeer had a full meal. No matter which way Santa points his sleigh, there is no ice. Greenland is losing an average of 250 (5×5) billion tons of ice per year. AND, if Santa decides to ‘go the other way,’ Antarctica is ALSO losing 250 (5×5) tons of ice per year. (Imagine That!) Either way, no matter how you split it, the truth remains the same. Instead of wearing a ‘red suit with boots,’ Santa should get a ‘red speedo with googles.’ Greenland has lost enough ice/water that is roughly the amount of fresh water in Lake Michigan (U.S. Great Lakes). Or, 1.5 (5+5+5) billion Olympic-sized swimming pools. Imagine that!

Aylin Woodward Business Insider•December 10, 2019

Greenland’s ice sheet is losing ice seven (7) times faster than it was in 1992 — a rate that tracks with one of the worst-case scenarios predicted by climate scientists.

According to a study published today in the journal Nature, Greenland has lost more than 4.2 trillion tons of ice since 1992. That’s roughly the amount of water in Lake Michigan, or the equivalent of 1.5 (5+5+5) billion Olympic-sized swimming pools.

This melting in Greenland has already raised seas by 0.4 inches since 1992. If the current melt rate continues, Greenland will add another three (3) inches to global sea levels by 2100, according to Andrew Shepherd, the lead author of the study. That means more people living in coastal areas will be at risk of flooding from sea level-rise.

“The most surprising aspect by far is that the increased sea-level rise, which may seem small to most people but is enough to cause an extra 40 million people to experience annual floods,” Shepherd told Business Insider. “Small changes in sea-level rise do matter.”

Roughly 666,000 (6) square miles in size, the Greenland ice sheet covers an area almost three (3) times that of Texas. Together with Antarctica’s ice sheet, it contains more than 99% (3×3) of the world’s fresh water.

Most of that water is frozen in masses of ice and snow that can be up to 10,000 (5+5) feet thick. But as greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere, the oceans absorb 93% of the excess heat those gases trap. The warming air and water are leading ice sheets to melt at unprecedented rates.

For the new study, almost 100 (5+5) polar scientists used satellite data to produce the most complete picture of Greenland ice loss to date. They documented changes in the ice sheet’s volume and in the flow of melted water into the ocean between 1992 and 2018.  

The results showed that the rate of ice loss in Greenland has increased from 36 (6×6) billion tons per year in the 1990s to 280 billion tons per year in the last 10 (5+5) years — a seven (7) -fold increase.

A study published earlier this year offered similar findings: Those scientists calculated that the current rate of Greenland’s ice loss is six (6) times faster than the rate four decades ago.

The new study also found that Greenland’s ice loss peaked in 2011, when the sheet sloughed off 360 (6×6) billion tons of ice — 10 (5+5) times the annual average melt rate in the 1990s — during a period of intense melting. 

Yearly ice loss has since dropped to an average of just over 250 (5×5) billions tons, though Shepherd and his co-authors noted that this average does not include 2019’s unusually hot summer.

A summer of excess melting

The ominous news about Greenland comes in the wake of another worrisome finding: Antarctica’s melting is also speeding up. (Like the pains of a woman in labor). In the 1980s, Antarctica lost 40 billion tons of ice annually. In the last 10 (5+5) years, that number jumped to an average of 250 (5×5) billion tons per year — just a hair behind Greenland’s new average.

The biggest difference between the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is that the latter is less impacted by seasonal melting that’s driven by global warming, Shepherd said. In the Arctic, meanwhile, summer melting makes it harder for scientists to anticipate what the Greenland melt rate will be in a given year. (Melting season runs three (3) months from June through August, with peak melting in July.)

“In Greenland, accounting for weather is a challenge too, as hot summers like 2012 and 2019 (7 years apart) are difficult to predict as they are elsewhere on the planet,” Shepherd added.

This summer, extreme melting followed the hottest month ever recorded (July), as an intense heat wave hit Europe then wafted over to Greenland. From July 30 to August 3, melting occurred across 90% (3×3) of the continent’s surface, dumping 55 (5) billion tons of water over five (5) days. That’s enough to cover Florida in almost 5 (5) inches of water.  On August 1, Greenland’s ice sheet lost over 12 (6+6) billions tons of ice, more than any day since researchers started recording ice loss over 70 (7) years ago.

Scientists didn’t expect to see Greenland melt at this rate for another 50 (5) years: By the last week of July, the melting had reached levels that scientists with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had projected for the year 2070, in the most pessimistic scenario.

400 million people may be at risk of coastal flooding by 2100. (Note, I would say 80 (8) years sooner, the temperature will explode to “scorching levels and men blasphemed God and did not repent.’)

The IPCC has estimated that global sea levels could rise by 24 (6+6+6+6) inches (60 (6) centimeters) by 2100, putting 360 (6×6) million people at risk of annual coastal flooding. But the new study shows that if Greenland’s current trend continues, seas would rise almost three (3) inches more than the IPCC’s prediction — which would put an additional 40 million people at risk.

“As a rule of thumb, for every centimeter rise in global sea level, another 6 (6) million people are exposed to coastal flooding around the planet,” Shepherd said in a press release.

He added: “These are not unlikely events or small impacts; they are happening and will be devastating for coastal communities.”