Still, this unusual early start to the season signals a potential for a year that may match or exceed 2012’s record melt.
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Maps showing areas where melting took place on Monday (April 11th) and Tuesday (April 12th). “Our reconstruction of the present-day thermal regime of the GIS reveals more extensive areas of GF-induced basal ice melt than previously recognized and introduces the possibility that a dense network of subglacial meltwater pathways, most of which spring from the zone affected the history of the Iceland hotspot, is now operating beneath the ice”, the study concludes.
Scientists agree that climate change, which has brought about a combination of record-high global temperatures and heavy rainfall.is responsible for the recent melts.
How anomalously warm was the blast of moist air that brought Greenland high temperatures and rain this week?
Almost 12% of Greenland’s almost 656,000 square miles of ice saw some melting this week, the earliest date on record for the start of the summer melt season, according to scientists with the Danish Meteorological Institute.
This however could be temporary.
That smashed the record for early melting by more than three weeks. You’re certainly forgiven for not knowing the capital of Greenland if you were unaware that it is, indeed, Nuuk. However, it could be very important for later in the melt season, he adds, because of the way an early melt sets the stage for future events.
This doesn’t sound too hot, but Fausto said: “This would be a warm day in July, never mind April”.
‘It’s disturbing, ‘ Langen said. He estimates that about 40% of the shift is due to Greenland ice sheet loss; 25% due to Anarctica ice sheet loss, and 25% due to where water is located in continents. At the city of Kangerlussuaq, the temperature hit 64 degrees F, which warmer than San Francisco on that same day.
“We had to check that our models were still working properly”, climate scientist Peter Langen told DMI’s Polar Portal website.
After Antarctica, Greenland’s ice cap contains the second largest mass of frozen freshwater in the world. Nearly 12 percent of the ice sheet has melted so far, with most of that occurring in southwest Greenland.
Climate scientists are already anxious about the melting ice’s contribution to sea level rise. If a cold weather pattern moves in, there could be a refreeze that keeps things chilled until the usual time when melting begins around the end of May.
“Things are getting more extreme and they’re getting more common”. “We’re seeing that with Greenland and this is an indication of that”.
“This kind of freakish warm spell is another piece in the puzzle”, he continued.
So these events might make the ice even more vulnerable to climate change.
Langen said the measurements are based on scores of observations from monitors on the ice fed into a computer simulation.
Still, Mote said the satellite, if correct, showed on Monday conditions similar to what Denmark is reporting.
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Ice melt in other parts of Greenland leads to a complex maze of waterways flowing under the ice sheet, lubricating it and allowing glaciers to speed their movement into the sea.
