Uh Oh... Unprecedented Ice Melt on Greenland Surface Ice

[berni_mccoy]

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/nasa-strange-sudden-massive-melt-greenland-16846858#.UA8xd6D3C-x



In the pics above, the pics show July 8th (left) and July 12th (right). The pink represents ice that is melting.

Nearly all of Greenland's massive ice sheet suddenly started melting a bit this month, a freak event that surprised scientists.

Even Greenland's coldest and highest place, Summit station, showed melting. Ice core records show that last happened in 1889 and occurs about once every 150 years.

Three satellites show what NASA calls unprecedented melting of the ice sheet that blankets the island, starting on July 8 and lasting four days. Most of the thick ice remains. While some ice usually melts during the summer, what was unusual was that the melting happened in a flash and over a widespread area.

"You literally had this wave of warm air wash over the Greenland ice sheet and melt it," NASA ice scientist Tom Wagner said Tuesday.

The ice melt area went from 40 percent of the ice sheet to 97 percent in four days, according to NASA. Until now, the most extensive melt seen by satellites in the past three decades was about 55 percent.

While the melt stopped, it is an unprecedented event and NASA isn't sure if this is rare natural event or part of the current global climate change. If the latter, it is happening much sooner than they expected.

[bhikkhu]

1. "most of the thick ice remains" is a bit of an understatement...

but a once-in-150-years event is certainly worth noting.

[TouchOfGray]

2. So if it last happened in 1889 and seems to happen about every 150 years according to

ice core data how the hell is this "unprecedented"? It seems right on schedule.

This is the kind of sloppy, alarmist reporting that gives the climate deniers such an easy target for ridicule.