marklynas.orgGreenland melting at critical rate 03 August 04
According to BBC correspondent David Shukman some parts of the Greeland ice cap are now melting at the extraordinary rate of 1 metre a month. In ice-free areas, Greenlandic people are growing potatoes – for the first time in centuries. The report is available either in video or text, and is well worth checking out. For those of a more scientific bent – or who are having trouble believing the alarming scale of the changes – there’s a recent paper posted by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland which discusses the current state of the ice cap (in PDF).
Comments
Vicki Falde
August 4th, 2004 at 02:30 AM
History tells us that the Norse found Greenland a nice place to live a few hundred years back. They even built settlements there. But then, the Little Ice Age kicked in in the North Atlantic…caused by a temporary shift in the Gulf Stream, which had kept the whole area warm. Sounds awfully familiar…read in a BBC article where householders in the UK are thinking of putting in A/C, now that the summers are getting too warm. The buildup of melted freshwater in the Atlantic from melting ice/glaciers may give them pause before making such an expensive investment. They may be needing to save up for more heating!