Greenland Ice

Greenland has lost 258,000 million tons of ice per year since 2003.

Greenland Mass Variation (NASA: Climate Indicators)

See the latest NASA Greenland Mass Variation graph.

This graph shows the movement over time of the mass of the Greenland ice sheet, measured in thousands of millions of tons (gigatons).

“On average in the summer, about half of the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet naturally melts. At high elevations, most of that meltwater quickly refreezes in place. Near the coast, some of the meltwater is retained by the ice sheet and the rest is lost to the ocean. But in 2012, the extent of ice melting at or near the surface jumped dramatically. According to satellite data, an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July.” NASA: Greenland Melt: 24 July 2012

Longer and warmer summers in Greenland mean people can grow vegetables and herbs unheard of years ago. Only in 1999, no one would have dreamed of doing this.
Sydney Morning Herald: 26 March 2013: Salad days in Greenland signal a warming climate


Dangers

Greenland is warming significantly. This warming is a danger for all sea-side cities. If the whole Greenland Ice Sheet melted, the sea level would rise about 6 meters.
US National Snow and Ice Data Centre NSIDC: Cryosphere: Quick Facts: Ice Sheets

It is not sustainable for us to have the Greenland ice sheet losing 258,000 million tons of ice each year and showing dramatic signs of more rapid melting.


Updated 1 Feb 2014

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.