The great Greenland meltdown – Science
Article Synopsis – In Greenland, the great melt is on. Satellite data and modeling has shown that surface melt, not calving, is now the major contributor to ice loss. Glaciologists are striving to understand the complex feedbacks that are speeding up surface melting. Although the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, high temperatures alone can’t explain the precipitous erosion of Greenland’s ice. Unseasonably warm summers appear to be abetted by microbes and algae that grow on the increasingly wet surface of the ice sheet, producing pigments that boost the ice’s absorption of solar energy. Soot and dust that blow from lower latitudes and darken the ice also appear to be playing a role, as are changes in weather patterns that increasingly steer warm, moist air over the vulnerable ice. To read the actual article click here.