The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica, and the rest of Earth’s glaciers and ice caps during the period 2003-2010 was about 4.3 trillion tons 1,000 cubic miles. The loss amount is roughly eight times the water volume of Lake Erie, or enough to cover the United States in 1.5 feet .5 meter [...]
Signal: Glacial melt
China’s glaciers melting as temps rise
Sharp increases in temperature driven by global warming are melting China’s Himalayan glaciers, an impact that threatens habitats, tourism and economic development, says a study released Tuesday. Of 111 weather stations scattered across southwestern China, 77 percent showed significant upticks in temperatures between 1961 and 2008, according to the study, published in a British peer-reviewed [...]
Record Ice loss for Greenland’s Mittivakkat Glacier
Greenland’s glaciers keep shrinking as higher surface temperatures have created record mass losses in 2010 and 2011, researchers announced this week. “Our fieldwork results are a key indication of the rapid changes now being seen in and around Greenland, which are evident not just on this glacier but also on many surrounding small glaciers,” study [...]
Melting glaciers driving river tsunamis in Chile
The people living beside the Colonia River in the Aysén region of Chilean Patagonia are under constant threat of a sudden catastrophic flood sweeping down from the mountains above them. The region has experienced an unprecedented seven events called glacial-lake outburst floods since April 2008. Each time, Lake Cachet 2, which lies on the Colonia [...]
Ice sheets melting faster than expected
Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets are shrinking more quickly, suggesting United Nations projections for sea-level rise are too conservative, a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration-funded study said.From 1992 to 2009, the two regions lost on average 36.3 billion tons more ice every year than the previous year, scientists led by Eric Rignot at NASA’s [...]
Record Melting in Greenland during 2010
2010 was an exceptional year for Greenland’s ice cap. Melting started early and stretched later in the year than usual. Little snow fell to replenish the losses. By the end of the season, much of southern Greenland had set a new record, with melting that lasted 50 days longer than average. This image was assembled [...]
New record melt for Greenland Ice Sheet: 50 days longer than average
New research shows that 2010 set new records for the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, expected to be a major contributor to projected sea level rises in coming decades. “This past melt season was exceptional, with melting in some areas stretching up to 50 days longer than average,” said Dr. Marco Tedesco, director of [...]
Record 2010 ice melt in Greenland, trend accelerating
Greenland’s icesheet, feared as a major driver of rising sea levels, shed a record amount of melted snow and ice in 2010, scientists reported Friday, a day after the UN said last year was the warmest on record. The 2010 runoff was more than twice the average annual loss in Greenland over the previous three [...]
