Greenland Artic Ice Summer Melt Unprecedented

[Riot]

Warning: this article only for those that "believe" in "science"

Explanation for the thought challenged: that means this thread is not about politics. It is simply an interesting scientific-referenced article about climate change, and something unusual that has happened in Greenland.
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Greenland Ice Melt, Measured By NASA Satellites, Reaches Unprecedented Level

Posted: 07/24/2012 2:07 pm Updated: 07/24/2012 2:21 pm

Unprecedented melting of Greenland's ice sheet this month has stunned NASA scientists and has highlighted broader concerns that the region is losing a remarkable amount of ice overall.

According to a NASA press release, about half of Greenland's surface ice sheet naturally melts during an average summer. But the data from three independent satellites this July, analyzed by NASA and university scientists, showed that in less than a week, the amount of thawed ice sheet surface skyrocketed from 40 percent to 97 percent.

In over 30 years of observations, satellites have never measured this amount of melting, which reaches nearly all of Greenland's surface ice cover.

When Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory observed the recent melting phenomenon, he said in the NASA press release, "This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: Was this real or was it due to a data error?"

Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Georgia-Athens and City University of New York all confirmed the remarkable ice melt.

NASA's cryosphere program manager, Tom Wagner, credited the power of satellites for observing the melt and explained to The Huffington Post that, although this specific event may be part of a natural variation, "We have abundant evidence that Greenland is losing ice, probably because of global warming, and it's significantly contributing to sea level rise."

Wagner said that ice is clearly thinning around the periphery, changing Greenland's overall ice mass, and he believes this is primarily due to warming ocean waters "eating away at the ice." He cautiously added, "It seems likely that's correlated with anthropogenic warming."

This specific extreme melt occurred in large part due to an unusual weather pattern over Greenland this year, what the NASA press release describes as a series of "heat domes," or an "unusually strong ridge of warm air."

Notable melting occurred in specific regions of Greenland, such as the area around Summit Station, located two miles above sea level. Not since 1889 has this kind of melting occurred, according to ice core analysis described in NASA's press release.

Goddard glaciologist Lora Koenig said that similar melting events occur about every 150 years, and this event is consistent with that schedule, citing the previous 1889 melt. But, she added, "if we continue to observe melting events like this in upcoming years, it will be worrisome."

"One of the big questions is 'What's happening in the Arctic in general?'" Wagner said to HuffPost.

Just last week, another unusual event occurred in the region: the calving of an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan from Greenland's Petermann Glacier.

Over the past few months, separate studies have emerged that suggest humans are playing a "dominant role" in ocean warming, and that specific regions of the world, such as the U.S. East Coast, are increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise.

Wagner explained that in recent years, studies have observed thinning sea ice and "dramatic" overall changes. He was clear, "We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Greenland is losing a tremendous amount of ice overall."



NASA CAPTION: Extent of surface melt over Greenland’s ice sheet on July 8 (left) and July 12 (right). Measurements from three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. In just a few days, the melting had dramatically accelerated and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12. In the image, the areas classified as “probable melt” (light pink) correspond to those sites where at least one satellite detected surface melting. The areas classified as “melt” (dark pink) correspond to sites where two or three satellites detected surface melting. The satellites are measuring different physical properties at different scales and are passing over Greenland at different times. As a whole, they provide a picture of an extreme melt event about which scientists are very confident. Credit: Nicolo E. DiGirolamo, SSAI/NASA GSFC, and Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory

[Clip-Clop]

30 years of data is virtually useless in the history of the planet, you know that right?

Goddard glaciologist Lora Koenig said that similar melting events occur about every 150 years, and this event is consistent with that schedule, citing the previous 1889 melt. But, she added, "if we continue to observe melting events like this in upcoming years, it will be worrisome."

It WILL be worrisome indeed, IF...

People in the mountains here say global warming was responsible for this years weak snowpack, quickly forgetting that the previous year broke every record in the history (recorded data very short period in the great scheme of things) of the area.

Climate is cyclical, perhaps.

[pointman]

Science also tells us that the planet has gone through numerous climate changes throughout its history. There have been periods where there have been no glaciers on earth at all. Hell, right now we are still in the 5th major ice age of the earth. Wonder if humans thousands of years ago were worried about global cooling.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by pointman

Science also tells us that the planet has gone through numerous climate changes throughout its history. There have been periods where there have been no glaciers on earth at all. Hell, right now we are still in the 5th major ice age of the earth. Wonder if humans thousands of years ago were worried about global cooling.

Of course not...They just worried about this guy...

[pointman]

Originally Posted by bigrun

Of course not...They just worried about this guy...

I know how hard it is for you liberals to swallow the facts when they don't support your positions.

If you are really stupid enough to believe that humans are the cause, you should be taking your crusade against the Chinese government who produces far more greenhouse gasses than our country. Find a cartoon to debunk that.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by pointman

I know how hard it is for you liberals to swallow the facts when they don't support your positions.

If you are really stupid enough to believe that humans are the cause, you should be taking your crusade against the Chinese government who produces far more greenhouse gasses than our country. Find a cartoon to debunk that.

Wonder if humans thousands of years ago were worried about global cooling.

Hey repuke, i was showing you what they worried about back then...
and you are pissed because Gore was right..

[Riot]

Originally Posted by pointman

I know how hard it is for you liberals to swallow the facts when they don't support your positions.

If you are really stupid enough to believe that humans are the cause, you should be taking your crusade against the Chinese government who produces far more greenhouse gasses than our country. Find a cartoon to debunk that.

What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you always have to interrupt threads by starting fights and calling names?

Geeshus cripes, I just posted a very interesting article. Big simply made a joke about a dinosaur. You go typically ballistic and start with your anger and "I hate 'liberals'"crap. Geeshus. Get a grip. Nobody is talking politics in this thread except you starting your divisive crap.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Cardus

In the mid- to late-70s, there was a New York Times headline that read that scientists were predicting a global cooling.

yep, a new ice age was coming. when we had a blizzard in maryland, which kept us out of school for a week...and then the time that the chesapeake bay froze over-now that was an amazing sight. people were driving their cars across the ice.
i saw an article yesterday about the thawing-which they said happened about every 150 years...so i guess this was right on schedule.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by Danzig

yep, a new ice age was coming. when we had a blizzard in maryland, which kept us out of school for a week...and then the time that the chesapeake bay froze over-now that was an amazing sight. people were driving their cars across the ice.
i saw an article yesterday about the thawing-which they said happened about every 150 years...so i guess this was right on schedule.

The idea according to the self-appointed global climate czar Al Gore, was that global warming would actually cause more wintery weather further south than normal - the philosophy -err... SCIENCE... is that as the polar ice caps melt, the weather, traditionally experienced in the upper reaches of Canada, would also be felt more southerly.

So the sub zero temps at the poles would be experienced in the lower reaches of the the arctic, the arctic weather would be felt in Canada, the Canadian weather would be felt in the US and so on...

So according to Al, increased colder than normal winters in the mid atlantic for instance is PROOF of global warming

That way they can have it both ways:

When it's warmer than normal = Global Warming
When it's colder than normal = Yup. Global Warming.

But don't question the Roitard - she's a scientist

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

The idea according to the self-appointed global climate czar Al Gore, was that global warming would actually cause more wintery weather further south than normal - the philosophy -err... SCIENCE... is that as the polar ice caps melt, the weather, traditionally experienced in the upper reaches of Canada, would also be felt more southerly.

So the sub zero temps at the poles would be experienced in the lower reaches of the the arctic, the arctic weather would be felt in Canada, the Canadian weather would be felt in the US and so on...

So according to Al, increased colder than normal winters in the mid atlantic for instance is PROOF of global warming

That way they can have it both ways:

When it's warmer than normal = Global Warming
When it's colder than normal = Yup. Global Warming.

But don't question the Roitard - she's a scientist

i spoke with my father the other day about his trip to my parents place in virginia. he said the water on the adjacent island (assateague national wildlife refuge) was lower than he'd ever seen it-and we've been going there for 40-odd years. but, i thought with ice melting, waters were supposed to rise? oops.
thing is, when scientists discuss warming and cooling, they also mention past ice ages, and past droughts, high temps, etc. so, if this is something this planet has encountered in times' past, how is it suddenly man-made? to me, that's a logical question to ask.

it reminds me of when the first few planets were all going to be aligned with one another in a straight line. they said it was the first time in 3,000 years it had happened. many were saying that 'the world will end because of this'. er, why didn't it end 3k years ago then???

back to warming and cooling...anyone else here watch deadliest catch? this last season was one of the worst they experienced, with ice coming so much lower than normal this year. at one point, they had to suspend crabbing for a month as all the crab grounds were covered in ice. then there was the freak freezing in europe this past winter, and record snowfalls there and elsewhere.

it all comes down to the same thing as other threads here, such as the shooting in aurora. people want to think they have control-weather is random. lunatics with guns are random. people don't like random. so, if we just try hard enough, we can control weather....right?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

When it's warmer than normal = Global Warming
When it's colder than normal = Yup. Global Warming.

But don't question the Roitard - she's a scientist

I've made no comments in this thread about global warming or on the content of the article. Don't lie about that.

Geeshus, you political haters would make the effing transit of Venus, or the discovery of a new species, into a political hate thread. Get a grip!