Zeeburg Nieuws / Climate Change / Greenland is melting

Copenhagen, December 14, 2009 - A new study by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program estimates that the sea will rise by 0.5 to 1.5 meters by 2100, threatening coastal cities and flooding island nations. This is double the predicted rise estimated by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC) in 2007, which did not incorporate sea level rise due to the melting of Greenland and Antarctica's ice sheets.
> news.mongabay.com: Sea levels set to rise more than expected due to 'deeply surprising' Greenland melt
> amap.no: The Greenland Ice Sheet in a Changing Climate

Greenland ice cap melting faster than ever

Utrecht / Bristol, November 12, 2009 - The Greenland ice sheet is losing ice at an ever increasing rate, say scientists. What's more, they've shown for the first time that the loss of ice is split equally between what's happening on the surface - like ice melting and varying levels of snowfall - and icebergs calving off from the fronts of glaciers.
Satellite observations and a state-of-the art regional atmospheric model have independently confirmed that the Greenland ice sheet is loosing mass at an accelerating rate, reports a new study in Science.
> www.bristol.ac.uk: Greenland ice cap melting faster than ever
> www.spiegel.de: Greenland's Ice Sheet Melting Faster than Ever
> planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Greenland ice cap melting faster than ever
> www.sciencemag.org: Partitioning Recent Greenland Mass Loss

Greenland ice sheet could be lost even if CO2 levels are slashed

London, October 7 2009 - Global warming could cause the huge Greenland ice sheet to melt past "tipping points" from which it could not fully recover - even if carbon dioxide levels were slashed, a Met Office report has warned.
Research has shown that the 1.7 million kilometre square ice sheet could melt entirely over several thousand years if temperatures continue to rise unchecked, causing sea level rises of up to seven metres.
Now a study from the Met Office Hadley Centre shows that there could be thresholds in melting which, once crossed, could prevent the ice sheet from re-growing to its former extent even if the carbon dioxide concentrations driving climate change are reduced to pre-industrial levels.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Greenland ice sheet could be lost even if CO2 levels are slashed
> www.metoffice.co.uk: Warming could push Greenland ice sheet beyond ‘tipping points’
> www.springerlink.com: Thresholds for irreversible decline of the Greenland ice sheet

Lasers from space show thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets

London, September 23, 2009 — The most comprehensive picture of the rapidly thinning glaciers along the coastline of both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has been created using satellite lasers. The findings are an important step forward in the quest to make more accurate predictions for future sea level rise.
The study shows that ice-sheet thinning has reached the far north of Greenland, has intensified in Antarctica and is spreading and penetrating far into the interior of both ice sheets.
The accelerating loss from the world's two great land-based ice sheets means a rise in sea levels is likely to happen even more quickly than UN scientists suggested only two years ago, the findings by British scientists suggest.
> www.antarctica.ac.uk: Lasers from space show thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets
> planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Antarctic and Greenland ice sheet thinning spreads
> www.independent.co.uk: Ancient glaciers are disappearing faster than ever
> edition.cnn.com: Greenland's frozen landscape warming up
> www.physorg.com: Warming ocean melts Greenland glaciers (Sep 23 2009)

Antarctic coastal ice thinning surprises experts

Oslo, September 23 2009 - Scientists are surprised at how extensively coastal ice in Antarctica and Greenland is thinning, according to a study Wednesday that could help predict rising sea levels linked to climate change.
> www.reuters.com: Antarctic coastal ice thinning surprises experts

Greenland's frozen landscape warming up

Greenland, September 20 2009 - CNN traveled with Greenpeace to Greenland on their study of the region. The Flow of Helheim Glacier has sped up dramatically in last decade.
> www.cnn.com: Greenland's frozen landscape warming up (Text)
> www.cnn.com: Greenland's frozen landscape warming up (Photo's)

Greenland demands more CO2

Copenhagen, September 14 2009 - Greenland, with its melting glaciers and Arctic changes may be Denmark’s showcase of how man-made global warming is affecting the globe – but the island’s government wants to heavily increase its CO2 emissions in order to develop.
The island’s new prime minister Kuupik Kleist has repeated threats not to endorse a global climate agreement at the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December unless the country is allowed to increase its CO2 emissions.
”If there is to be any chance of economic growth and reductions in Danish subsidies, it is absolutely necessary that Greenland develops economically,” says Kleist.
> politiken.dk: Greenland demands more CO2

Dramatic biological responses to global warming in the Arctic

New York, 11 September 2009 - "The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past," says Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University. Post leads a large, international team that carried out ecosystem-wide studies of the biological response to Arctic warming during the fourth International Polar Year, which ended in 2008. The team's results will be reported on 11 September 2009 in the journal Science.
> www.physorg.com: Dramatic biological responses to global warming in the Arctic
> notes.helsinki.fi / UH: The change in Arctic nature foreshadows the global environment of the future
> www.iab.uaf.edu: UA scientists seek new emphases in Arctic climate change research
> www.sciencedaily.com: Dramatic Biological Responses To Global Warming In The Arctic

Global warming shrinks glacier at alarming rate

Ilulissat, (Greenland/DK)) July 9 2009 - One of the world's largest glaciers, on the west coast of Greenland, is shrinking at an alarming rate as a result of global warming - with potentially dire consequences.
Ilulissat, a UNESCO-listed glacier, is shedding ice into the sea faster than ever before, according to one of Denmark's top experts on glaciology.
Andreas Peter Ahlstroem, a researcher with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland institute, said the glacier has receded by more than 10 miles (15 km) since 2001.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Global warming shrinks glacier at alarming rate

'The Greenland Ice Sheet Is an Awakening Giant'
Berlin, July 7 2009 - Leading glacier expert Andreas Peter Ahlstrom talks to SPIEGEL ONLINE about Greenland's melting ice sheets, global sea-level rise and why limiting global warming is non-negotiable.
> www.spiegel.de: 'The Greenland Ice Sheet Is an Awakening Giant'

Study: Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea-level rise

Fairbanks, (ALA/USA) June 11 2009 - The Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected according to a new study led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher and published in the journal Hydrological Processes.
Study results indicate that the ice sheet may be responsible for nearly 25 percent of global sea rise in the past 13 years. The study also shows that seas now are rising by more than 3 millimeters a year--more than 50 percent faster than the average for the 20th century.
Study: Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea-level rise

Greenland ice tipping point 'further off than thought'
Copenhagen, March 10 2009 - The vulnerability of Greenland's ice has been overestimated, says a climate expert. The giant Greenland ice sheet may be more resistant to temperature rise than experts realised. The finding gives hope that the worst impacts of global warming, such as the devastating floods depicted in Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth, could yet be avoided.
www.guardian.co.uk: Greenland ice tipping point 'further off than thought'

Winter Camp: A Blog from the Greenland Summit

The sun is finaly rising after a long dark winter. (Photo: Earth Observatory)

Summit Camp (Greenland) February 25, 2009 - Lora Koenig, a remote-sensing glaciologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, spent three dark, frigid months supporting research at the National Science Foundation's Greenland Summit Camp. Near the end of her stay, Koenig emailed the Earth Observatory answers to a few questions about how she wound up in Greenland and what is was like to spend the winter there.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov: Winter Camp
earthobservatory.nasa.gov / Lora's blog

Melting on the Greenland Ice Cap, 2008

Greenland melt in 2008

The northern fringes of Greenland’s ice sheet experienced extreme melting in 2008, according to NASA scientist Marco Tedesco and his colleagues. This image shows the number of days when melting occurred on the ice sheet compared to the average number of melt days between 1979 and 2007. Red outlines the northern rim and parts of the west coast of Greenland, indicating that the summer melting period in 2008 was longer than average in many places. Many locations in northern Greenland experienced a record number of melt days. Temperatures at nearby ground-based weather stations were correspondingly high. The average temperature between June and August 2008 was as much as 3 degrees Celsius above average, with new record temperatures at many ground-based weather stations.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov: Greenland melt in 2008

Wrapping Greenland in reflective blankets
London, February 18 2009 – Rising sea levels are threatening the planet but a glaciologist has devised a way to prevent glaciers from melting further - by wrapping them in a reflective blanket.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Wrapping Greenland in reflective blankets

Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet melting, rate unknown
Chicago, February 16 2009 -- The Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are melting, but the amounts that will melt and the time it will take are still unknown, according to Richard Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences, Penn State.
www.physorg.com: Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet melting, rate unknown

Greenland’s glaciers losing ice faster this year than last year, which was record-setting itself
Columbus, (Ohio), December 15 2008 – Researchers watching the loss of ice flowing out from the giant island of Greenland say that the amount of ice lost this summer is nearly three times what was lost one year ago.
researchnews.osu.edu: Greenland’s glaciers losing ice faster this year than last year, which was record-setting itself

Two degree rise could spark Greenland ice sheet meltdown: WWF
November 27 2008 - A less than two degree Celsius rise in global temperatures might be sufficient to spark a meltdown of the Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic sea ice, the WWF warned in a new study released Thursday.
www.physorg.com: Two degree rise could spark Greenland ice sheet meltdown: WWF

What links the retreat of Jakobshavn Isbrae, Wilkins Ice Shelf and the Petermann Glacier?
October 7, 2008 - Changes occurring in marine terminating outlet glaciers of the Greenland Ice Sheet and ice shelves fringing the Antarctic Peninsula have altered our sense of the possible rate of response of large ice sheet-ice shelf systems. There is a shared mechanism at work that has emerged from the detailed observations of a number of researchers, that is the key to the onset and progression of the ice retreat. This mechanism is shared despite the vastly different nature of the environments of Jakobshavns Isbrae, Wilkins Ice Shelf and the Petermann Glacier.
www.realclimate.org: www.realclimate.org

Getting a Grip on Future Ice Sheet Changes
October 1, 2008 - The current rate of sea level rise is about 3 mm/year, but how much will it be over the course of the next century? Human-caused, or anthropogenic, climate change is making temperatures over Greenland warmer. Will sea level rise be faster in the future because of melting of the Greenland ice sheet?
www.giss.nasa.gov: Getting a Grip on Future Ice Sheet Changes

Researchers attribute thinning of Greenland glacier to ocean warming preceded by atmospheric changes
Ilulissat, (DK), September 29, 2008 - The sudden thinning in 1997 of Jakobshavn Isbræ, one of Greenland's largest glaciers, was caused by subsurface ocean warming, according to research published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The research team traces these oceanic shifts back to changes in the atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic region.
www.physorg.com: Researchers attribute thinning of Greenland glacier to ocean warming preceded by atmospheric changes

Greenland: roar of melting glacier sounds climate change alarm

Ilulissat, (DK), September 23, 2008 - Flying low over the vast, white expanse of Greenland's Ilulissat glacier, one of the biggest and most active in the world, the effects of global warming in the Arctic are painfully visible as the ice melts at an alarming rate.
news.yahoo.com/AFP / Greenland: roar of melting glacier sounds climate change alarm
news.yahoo.com/AFP: Greenland's ice cap melting faster than expected: experts

Can rubber ducks help track a melting glacier?

Washington (US), September 21, 2008 To help figure out what's happening inside the fastest-moving Greenland glacier, a U.S. rocket scientist sent 90 rubber ducks into the ice, hoping someone finds them if they emerge in Baffin Bay.
www.reuters.com: Can rubber ducks help track a melting glacier?
dsc.discovery.com: NASA Dispatches Rubber Ducks for Science

Small glaciers -- not large -- account for most of Greenland's recent loss of ice, study shows
Columbus, Ohio / US – The recent dramatic melting and breakup of a few huge Greenland glaciers have fueled public concerns over the impact of global climate change, but that isn't the island's biggest problem.
www.eurekalert.org: Small glaciers -- not large -- account for most of Greenland's recent loss of ice, study shows

A Deep Thaw: How Much Will Vanishing Glaciers Raise Sea Levels?
Boulder (Col/USA), September 5 2008 - Greenland, the world's largest island, holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by 23 feet (seven meters). Add the ice sheets of Antarctica and the oceans would deepen more than 200 feet (60 meters). Satellite measurements from space and speed measurements on land confirm that Greenland's glaciers are melting and on the move. And although the picture is less clear in Antarctica, the global warming seems to be having an impact there, too. So the question is: How much—and how soon—will sea level rise?
www.sciam.com: A Deep Thaw, How Much Will Vanishing Glaciers Raise Sea Levels?

Analysis of past glacial melting shows potential for increased Greenland ice melt and sea level rise
Wisconsin, August 31 2008 - Researchers have yet to reach a consensus on how much and how quickly melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet will contribute to sea level rise. To shed light on this question, scientists at the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University's Center for Climate Systems Research analyzed the disappearance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, the last ice sheet to melt completely in the Northern Hemisphere and the closest example of what can be expected to happen to the Greenland Ice Sheet in the next century.
www.eurekalert.org: Analysis of past glacial melting shows potential for increased Greenland ice melt and sea level rise
www.eurekalert.org: Ice Age lesson predicts a faster rise in sea level

Why is Greenland covered in ice?
Bristol (UK), August 28 2008 - There have been many reports in the media about the effects of global warming on the Greenland ice-sheet, but there is still great uncertainty as to why there is an ice-sheet there at all.
Reporting today (28 August) in the journal Nature, scientists at the University of Bristol and the University of Leeds show that only changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide are able to explain the transition from the mostly ice-free Greenland of three million years ago, to the ice-covered Greenland of today.
www.eurekalert.org: Why is Greenland covered in ice?
www.physorg.com: Why is Greenland covered in ice?
www.realclimate.org: Friday round-up / CO2 as a long-term climate forcing
www.nature.com: Late Pliocene Greenland glaciation controlled by a decline in atmospheric CO2 levels

Freshwater runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet will more than double by the end of the century
Fairbanks (US/Ala), June 12 2008 - The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting faster than previously calculated according to a recently released scientific paper by University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher Sebastian H. Mernild. The study, published in the journal Hydrological Processes, is based on models using data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as satellite images and observations from on the ground in Greenland.
www.enn.com: Freshwater runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet will more than double by the end of the century

Moulins, Calving Fronts and Greenland Outlet Glacier Acceleration
London, April 18 2008 - The net loss in volume and hence sea level contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) has doubled in recent years from 90 to 220 cubic kilometers/year has been noted recently (Rignot and Kanagaratnam, 2007). The main cause of this increase is the acceleration of several large outlet glaciers. There has also been an alarming increase in the number of photographs of meltwater draining into a moulin somewhere on the GIS, often near Swiss Camp (35 km inland from the calving front). The story goes—warmer temperatures, more surface melting, more meltwater draining through moulins to glacier base, lubricating glacier bed, reducing friction, increasing velocity, and finally raising sea level. Examining this issue two years RealClimate suggested this was likely the correct story. A number of recent results suggest that we need to take another look at this story.
www.realclimate.org: Moulins, Calving Fronts and Greenland Outlet Glacier Acceleration
www.sciam.com: Ice Escapades: Greenland's Ice Sheet Is Speeding to the Sea

Lakes of Meltwater Can Crack Greenland’s Ice and Contribute to Faster Ice Sheet Flow

Washington, April 17 2008 - Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Washington (UW) have for the first time documented the sudden and complete drainage of a lake of meltwater from the top of the Greenland ice sheet to its base.
www.whoi.edu: Lakes of Meltwater Can Crack Greenland’s Ice and Contribute to Faster Ice Sheet Flow
Related:
uwnews.org: While stability far from assured, Greenland perhaps not headed down too slippery a slope

Solved: mystery of the disappearing lake

London, April 17 2008 - The sudden and dramatic disappearance of a large lake which had formed on the surface of a melting ice sheet in Greenland has been documented for the first time by scientists who estimated that its outflow was greater than that of Niagara Falls.
www.independent.co.uk: Solved: mystery of the disappearing lake
www.reuters.com: Greenland glacial lake vanishes in warming drama
www.physorg.com: Lakes of meltwater can crack Greenland's ice and contribute to faster ice sheet flow

All eyes north: Is Greenland Melting?

London, April 17 2008 - The Arctic — particularly Greenland — needs to become a major focus of research for years to come.
www.nature.com: All eyes north / Is Greenland Melting?

Climate change: Losing Greenland
London, April 17 2008 - When people talk about catastrophic climate change, there's a fair chance that Greenland is on their mind. If they use the term 'tipping point', then it is pretty much a sure thing. One-twentieth of the world's ice is locked up atop that island, and if it were to melt completely, global sea levels would rise by seven metres. The collapse of the Greenland ice sheet is in the front rank of potential climate catastrophes.
www.nature.com: Climate change: Losing Greenland

Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss At Surface And Beyond

Melt water puddles on the Greenland ice sheet and drains through cracks to the surface below. This water lubricates the underlying bedrock, causing the ice to flow faster toward the sea. Click on the picture for a movie of the phenomenon. (Credit: NASA)

Washington DC (US), February 22, 2008 - Greenland's enormous ice sheet is home to enough ice to raise sea level by about 23 feet if the entire ice sheet were to melt into surrounding waters. Though the loss of the whole ice sheet is unlikely, loss from Greenland's ice mass has already contributed in part to 20th century sea level rise of about two millimeters per year, and future melt has the potential to impact people and economies across the globe. So NASA scientists used state-of-the-art NASA satellite technologies to explore the behavior of the ice sheet, revealing a relationship between changes at the surface and below.
www.enn.com: Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss At Surface And Beyond
www.nasa.gov: Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss at Surface and Beyond (+videos)
www.buffalo.edu: New Greenland Ice Sheet Data Will Impact Climate Change Models

Greenland thaw seen biggest in 50 years

An iceberg is pictured in Ilulissat fjord in Greenland August 16, 2007. Climate change has caused the greatest thaw of Greenland's ice in half a century, perhaps heralding a wider meltdown that would quicken a rise in world sea levels, scientists said on Tuesday. Click on the pictury for the story by Reuters

Oslo, January 15, 2008 - Climate change has caused the greatest thaw of Greenland's ice in half a century, perhaps heralding a wider meltdown that would quicken a rise in world sea levels, scientists said on Tuesday.
www.reuters.com: Greenland thaw seen biggest in 50 years

Glaciers grew even when alligators lived in Arctic
Oslo, January 10, 2008 - Giant glaciers formed about 90 million years ago when alligators thrived in the Arctic, overturning the belief that all ice melts in a "super greenhouse" climate, researchers said on Thursday.
www.reuters.com: Glaciers grew even when alligators lived in Arctic

Greenland Ice Sheet Melting at Record Rate
San Francisco, December 12, 2007 - The Greenland ice sheet melted at a record rate this year, the largest ever since satellite measurements began in 1979, a top climate scientist reported on Monday.
www.planetark.com: Greenland Ice Sheet Melting at Record Rate
www.reuters.com: Greenland ice sheet melting at record rate
www.realclimate.org: AGU–Dispatch #2
www.realclimate.org: AGU–Dispatch #1

Greenland melt accelerating, according to CU-Boulder study

Enlarge picture

San Francisco, December 12, 2007 - The 2007 melt extent on the Greenland ice sheet broke the 2005 summer melt record by 10 percent, making it the largest ever recorded there since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder climate scientist.
The melting increased by about 30 percent for the western part of Greenland from 1979 to 2006, with record melt years in 1987, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2007, said CU-Boulder Professor Konrad Steffen, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Air temperatures on the Greenland ice sheet have increased by about 7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1991, primarily a result of the build-up of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere, according to scientists.
www.eurekalert.org: Greenland melt accelerating, according to CU-Boulder study

Glacial acceleration: a sea of troubles

December, 2007 - It is hard to shock journalists and at the same time leave them in awe of the power of nature. A group returning from a helicopter trip flying over, then landing on, the Greenland ice cap at the time of maximum ice melt last month were shaken. One shrugged and said, “It is too late already.”
www.emagazine.com: Glacial acceleration: a sea of troubles

Greenland Ice Study: Could Higher Sea Level Come Sooner Than Expected?
ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2007) — By studying 120,000-year-old layers in the ice of Greenland, researchers have determined that the ice cover seems to be able to survive a warmer climate better than was previously believed. But at the same time they have found signs that the changes that are nevertheless happening will occur at an unexpectedly rapid rate. The level of the global seas may therefore rise faster than was previously thought.
www.sciencedaily.com: Could Higher Sea Level Come Sooner Than Expected?

Country Greenland ice cap melting faster than expected
Copenhagen, October 11 2007 - The ice cap in the northern hemisphere is melting a lot more rapidly that scientists thought, according to new research published by the Danish National Space Center.
"Until 2004, the glacier mass in the southeastern part of the island lost about 50 to 100 cubic kilometres (12 to 24 cubic miles) per year. After this date, the melting rate accelerated to 300 cubic kilometres per year. It's a jump of 400 percent, which is very worrying."
afp.google.com: Country Greenland ice cap melting faster than expected
www.spacecenter.dk: Greenland is melting at record speed
www.nasa.gov: NASA Finds Greenland Snow Melting Hit Record High in High Places
See also: Greenland's Ice Island Alarm

Melting ice cap brings diamond hunters and hopes of independence to Greenland
Greenland, October 4 2007 - Arctic Ministers hope potential mineral wealth and hydro-electricity will allow nation to break free from Denmark.
Helicopters have been hard to hire in Greenland this summer. In most countries that would not be a big problem, but for the locals on the world's biggest island - where there are no road networks and sparse settlements are often 100 miles apart - it can make life tricky.
The scarcity has been caused by a diamond rush with prospectors, mostly from North America, believing they can strike it rich....
www.guardian.co.uk: Melting ice cap brings diamond hunters and hopes of independence to Greenland

From the air, the evidence of climate change is striking
Nuuk (Greenland) October 3 2007 - The airport in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, doesn't look like any other airport. Outside, the tiny runway accommodates a lone helicopter. Inside the waiting room, the chairs are upholstered in seal skin.
This otherworldliness was expected, as Greenland has little in common with any other place on the planet. The largest island in the world, it is weighed down by its immense ice cap that in winter covers almost its entire land mass. In summer, the ice retreats to reveal a savage landscape of fjords and jagged rocks. And, at the end of this summer, it has revealed more than ever.
environment.independent.co.uk: From the air, the evidence of climate change is striking

In Greenland, potatoes thrive as seal hunting wanes
Qassiarsuk, Greenland, October 1 2007 - In this village of 56 people in southern Greenland, history has come full circle. It was here, in about 985, that Erik the Red, leader of a medieval Norse colony, built his farm and raised sheep, cattle, and barley.
But about 300 years later, the climate changed. The Norse's agrarian lifestyle began to unravel when the Little Ice Age arrived, dooming the colony.
Today the hillside overlooking Erik's Fjord is lush and green again. A crop of young potatoes and radishes await harvesting. The plot is surrounded by tall grass – food for thousands of sheep – blowing in the cool winds coming off the melting glaciers to the north and east. In a nearby village, residents have started growing broccoli....
www.csmonitor.com: In Greenland, potatoes thrive as seal hunting wanes

Arctic thaw may be at "tipping point"

Oslo / London, September 28, 2007 - A record melt of Arctic summer sea ice this month may be a sign that global warming is reaching a critical trigger point that could accelerate the northern thaw, some scientists say.
"The reason so much (of the Arctic ice) went suddenly is that it is hitting a tipping point that we have been warning about for the past few years," James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told Reuters.
The Arctic summer sea ice shrank by more than 20 percent below the previous 2005 record low in mid-September to 4.13 million sq km (1.6 million sq miles), according to a 30-year satellite record.
Some climate tipping points may already have been passed, and others may be closer than we thought, say UK-scientists. Runaway loss of Arctic sea ice may now be inevitable. Even more worrying, and very likely, is the collapse of the giant Greenland ice sheet. So said Tim Lenton of the University of East Anglia, speaking at a meeting in August on complexity in nature, organised by the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge.
Lenton warned the meeting that global warming might trigger tipping points that could cause runaway warming or catastrophic sea-level rise. The risks are far greater than suggested in the current IPCC report, he says.
Yet climate modellers are in a quandary. As models get better and forecasts more alarming, their confidence in the detail of their predictions is evaporating.
www.reuters.com: Arctic thaw may be at "tipping point"

Hansens Earlier warnings:
Hansen: On a slippery slope to hell... or how much global warming constitutes "Dangerous anthropogenic interference" (giss/nasa pdf)
See the earlier report "The consensus on Climate Change / Hansen’s 1988 projections (Read all...)

About Tipping Points:
Timothy Lenton: Tipping Points in the Earth system
Jim Hansen: The Tipping Point

Greenland Snow Melting Hit Record High in High Places

Washington, September 25 2007 - A new NASA-supported study reports that 2007 marked an overall rise in the melting trend over the entire Greenland ice sheet and, remarkably, melting in high-altitude areas was greater than ever at 150 percent more than average.
In fact, the amount of snow that has melted this year over Greenland could cover the surface size of the U.S. more than twice.
www.physorg.com: NASA finds Greenland snow melting hit record high in high places
www.eurekalert.org: NASA finds Greenland snow melting hit record high in high places
earthobservatory.nasa.gov: Greenland Snow Melting Hit Record High in High Places
www.nasa.gov: NASA Researcher Finds Days of Snow Melting on the Rise in Greenland
August 29 2007: Greenland Ice Island Alarm

Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes
London, September 8 2007 - The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off.
Scientists monitoring events this summer say the acceleration could be catastrophic in terms of sea-level rise and make predictions this February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change far too low.
www.guardian.co.uk: Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes

Tipping points in the Earth system

London, August 30, 2007 - (by Timothy M. Lenton) - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its many excellent reports tends to portray climate change as a smooth transition. Although the projections are rarely straight lines the underlying system and its responses appear ‘linear’ (in mathematical terms). There are, of course, exceptions to this, notable ones being the possible collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation or irreversible melt of the Greenland ice sheet, which both get significant attention in the latest IPCC report (IPCC, 2007). These represent large scale ‘non-linear’ components of the Earth system.
researchpages.net: Tipping points in the Earth system

Greenland's Ice Island Alarm

Washington / Amsterdam, August 28/29, 2007 - As the surface of the Greenland ice sheet melts, rivers of water flow on the surface, eventually collecting in huge blue pools atop the ice or plunging into deep crevasses, flowing to the sea. (Photograph ©2005 Greenpeace/Andrew Davies.)
earthobservatory.nasa.gov 08282007: Greenland's Ice island alarm (Special)
earthobservatory.nasa.gov 08222007: Northwest Passage Nearly Open
earthobservatory.nasa.gov 08302007: Petterman Glacier Greenland
www.greenpeace.org 02172006: Melting Greenland fuels sea level rise
www.greenpeace.org 07212005: Greenhouse Effect is Melting Greenland

Islands emerge as Arctic ice shrinks to record low

Ny Alesund, Svalbard/Spitsbergen

Ny Alesund, Norway, August 20 (Reuters) - Previously unknown islands are appearing as Arctic summer sea ice shrinks to record lows, raising questions about whether global warming is outpacing U.N. projections, experts said.
www.alertnet.org: Islands emerge as Arctic ice shrinks to record low

DNA reveals Greenland's lush past

London, July 5/6, 2007 - Scientists using DNA extracted from ice buried deep below the surface have found evidence that a lush forest once existed in southern Greenland, a finding that sheds light on how climate change affects Earth's frozen areas.
www.bbc.co.uk: DNA reveals Greenland's lush past
www.monbiot.com: Scientists Find Clues to Ice Cap Longevity

Global warming is evaporating Arctic ponds, new study shows
Kingston, Ont (Canada), July 1, 2007 -- High Arctic ponds -- the most common source of surface water in many polar regions -- are now beginning to evaporate due to recent climate warming, say two of Canada’s leading environmental scientists. Some polar sites 'have already crossed the final ecological threshold,' says Queen's prof.
www.nytimes.com: Global warming is evaporating Arctic ponds, new study shows

Greenland's ice meltdown quickens
Kangerlussuaq, (Greenland), July 1, 2007 - A slab of pale blue ice the size of a semitrailer broke off the side of the Russell Glacier and splashed into a rushing stream of meltwater some 100 feet below....
timesunion.com: Greenland's ice meltdown quickens

Greenland Ice May Melt Much Faster
London, June 26, 2007 - New research shows that man-made climate change could cause the Greenland ice sheet to break up in hundreds, rather than thousands, of years, the chair of a United Nations panel of scientists said on Monday.
www.planetark.com: Greenland Ice May Melt Much Faster
www.climatetark.com / Greenland: Situation critical on climate
June 19 2007: Planet Earth today is in "imminent peril"

Thunder? It's the Sound of Greenland Melting
Ilulissat, Greenland, June 7, 2007 - (Reuters) - Atop Greenland's Suicide Cliff, from where old Inuit women used to hurl themselves when they felt they had become a burden to their community, a crack and a thud like thunder pierce the air.
"We don't have thunder here. But I know it from movies," says Ilulissat nurse Vilhelmina Nathanielsen, who hiked with us through the melting snow. "It's the ice cracking inside the icebergs. If we're lucky we might see one break apart."
www.planetark.com: Thunder? It's the Sound of Greenland Melting

World Environment Day homes in on fear of melting ice

Tromsoe, Norway - June 5, 2007 - The world marked Environment Day on Tuesday with cheerful events like tree-planting and solar cooking in the heat of Asia, but also gloomier talk in the not-so-frozen north of melting polar caps.
A new United Nations report says melting glaciers and ice sheets caused by global warming could disrupt drinking and agricultural water supplies for up to 40 percent of the world's population. The report released Monday said the depletion of ice caps could also contribute to global warming because the ice sheets reflect the sun's heat away from the Earth's surface. It also warns that such low-lying countries as Bangladesh and Indonesia could face severe flooding by melting.
www.reuters.com: World Environment Day homes in on fear of melting ice
www.reuters.com: Melting Ice, Snow to Hit Livelihoods Worldwide - UN
www.aftenposten.no: Climate experts sound new alarms in Tromsø
www.unep.org: Melting Ice-A Hot Topic? New UNEP Report Shows Just How Hot It's Getting
www.unep.org: Melting Ice, a Hot Topic?

NASA Researcher Finds Days of Snow Melting on the Rise in Greenland
May 29 2007 - In 2006, Greenland experienced more days of melting snow and at higher altitudes than average over the past 18 years, according to a new NASA-funded project using satellite observations.
Daily satellite observations have shown snow melting on Greenland’s ice sheet over an increased number of days. The resulting data help scientists understand better the speed of glacier flow, how much water will pour from the ice sheet into the surrounding ocean and how much of the sun’s radiation will reflect back into the atmosphere.
www.nasa.gov: NASA Researcher Finds Days of Snow Melting on the Rise in Greenland

Global warming's boom town
Ilulissat, May 24th 2007 - ILULISSAT, a town of 5,000 people in the chilly north of Greenland, is hot. Majestic blue icebergs the size of small islands float outside its harbour; its ice fjord drains 7% of the area of the Greenland ice sheet. It is the place to go to see global warming in action. And getting there has just become much easier. This week Air Greenland began commercial flights between Kangerlussuaq, a former military airstrip to the south, and Baltimore in Maryland. American eco-tourists can now fly straight to the Danish territory without going via Copenhagen.
www.economist.com: Global warming's boom town

Another alarm bell in a global wake-up

London, April 24, 2007 - The melting of the great Greenland ice sheet has produced its most remarkable phenomenon. A new island has appeared off its coast, a development that is being seen as an alarming sign of global warming.
news.independent.co.uk: An island made by global warming
news.independent.co.uk: Another alarm bell in a global wake-up

Gravity Measurements Help Melt Ice Mysteries
Greenbelt (MD/USA), March 23, 2007 - Greenland is cold and hot. It's a deep freezer storing 10 percent of Earth's ice and a subject of fevered debate. If something should melt all that ice, global sea level could rise as much as 7 meters (23 feet). Greenland and Antarctica - Earth's two biggest icehouses - are important indicators of climate change and a high priority for research, as highlighted by the newly inaugurated International Polar Year.
Just a few years ago, the world's climate scientists predicted that Greenland wouldn't have much impact at all on sea level in the coming decades. But recent measurements show that Greenland's ice cap is melting much faster than expected.
www.nasa.gov: Gravity Measurements Help Melt Ice Mysteries

Pollution From U.S., Europe, Others Speeding Arctic Warming, Study Says
March 16, 2007 Pollution from industrialized countries is heating the Arctic atmosphere faster than any region on Earth, a new study warns.
news.nationalgeographic.com: Pollution From U.S., Europe, Others Speeding Arctic Warming, Study Says

Asia smog fuelling Pacific storms 'will melt Arctic ice'
London, March 6, 2007 - Smog and air pollution from Asian cities have intensified storms over the Pacific Ocean, which will result in increased warming of the Arctic, scientists have warned. They report that the number of storm clouds in the region has increased by up to a half over the last 20 years as rapidly industrialised cities in countries such as India and China burn more coal as they grow.
environment.guardian.co.uk: Asia smog fuelling Pacific storms 'will melt Arctic ice'

Climate change: scientists warn it may be too late to save the ice caps
London, February 20, 2007 - A critical meltdown of ice sheets and severe sea level rise could be inevitable because of global warming, the world's scientists are preparing to warn their governments. New studies of Greenland and Antarctica have forced a UN expert panel to conclude there is a 50% chance that widespread ice sheet loss "may no longer be avoided" because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
environment.guardian.co.uk: Scientists warn it may be too late to save the ice caps
news.independent.co.uk 160207: Scientists sound alarm over melting Antarctic ice sheets

Scientists plead for action to save poles from 'tipping point' disaster
Pollution Soaring to Crisis Levels in Arctic
Svalbard, March 12, 2006 - Researchers have uncovered compelling evidence that indicates Earth's most vulnerable regions - the North and South Poles - are poised on the brink of a climatic disaster.
The scientists, at an atmospheric monitoring station in the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, have found that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere near the North Pole are now rising at an unprecedented pace.
In 1990 this key cause of global warming was rising at a rate of 1 part per million (ppm). Recently, that rate reached 2 ppm per year. Now, scientists at the Mount Zeppelin monitoring station have discovered it is rising at between 2.5 and 3 ppm.
observer.guardian.co.uk: Pollution Soaring to Crisis Levels in Arctic
www.commondreams.org: Idem

The Tipping Point?
December 6, 2005 - (by Jim Hansen) - The Earth's climate is nearing, but has not passed, a tipping point beyond which it will be impossible to avoid climate change with far-ranging undesirable consequences. These include not only the loss of the Arctic as we know it, with all that implies for wildlife and indigenous peoples, but losses on a much vaster scale due to rising seas.
Ocean levels will increase slowly at first, as losses at the fringes of Greenland and Antarctica due to accelerating ice streams are nearly balanced by increased snowfall and ice sheet thickening in the ice sheet interiors.
But as Greenland and West Antarctic ice is softened and lubricated by meltwater, and as buttressing ice shelves disappear because of a warming ocean, the balance will tip toward the rapid disintegration of ice sheets.
The Earth's history suggests that with warming of two to three degrees, the new sea level will include not only most of the ice from Greenland and West Antarctica, but a portion of East Antarctica, raising the sea level by twenty-five meters, or eighty feet. Within a century, coastal dwellers will be faced with irregular flooding associated with storms. They will have to continually rebuild above a transient water level.
This grim scenario can be halted if the growth of greenhouse gas emissions is slowed in the first quarter of this century.
(From a presentation to the American Geophysical Union, December 6, 2005)

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