Houses are painted in bright colors in the town of Ilulissat in western Greenland in this photo taken May 15, 2007.

Greenland, the world's largest island, is mostly covered by an ice cap of about 2.6 million cubic km that accounts for a 10th of all the water in the world. Over the last 30 years, its melt zone has expanded by 30 percent, and now the cap loses 100 to 150 cubic km of ice every year--more than all the ice in the Alps.

In the past 15 years, winter temperatures have risen about 5 degrees Celsius on the cap, while spring and autumn temperatures increased about 3 degrees Celsius. Warmer weather also boosts tourism. One commentator, noting the carbon dioxide emissions such travel would create, has called that "eco-suicide tourism".

格陵蘭西部伊路利薩特鎮（意指冰山）的房子都漆成鮮艷的顏色，圖為五月十五日的檔案照。

格陵蘭是世界最大島嶼，島上大部分被冰帽覆蓋，體積達260萬立方公里，約占全世界所有水的十分之一。過去卅年來，其融化的區域已經擴大30%，目前冰帽每年仍流失100至150立方公里的冰，比阿爾卑斯山所有的冰還多。過去十五年來，冬天冰帽氣溫升高約攝氏五度，春秋兩季氣溫約升高攝氏三度。氣候變暖帶動觀光業，一位評論家注意到這種旅遊會使二氧化碳排放增加，因此稱之為「生態自殺之旅」。 圖／路透