NYT: The Warming of Greenland

[Kadie]

The Warming of Greenland


A penisula long thought to be part of Greenland's mainland turned out to be an island when a glacier retreated.

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
Published: January 16, 2007

LIVERPOOL LAND, Greenland — Flying over snow-capped peaks and into a thick fog, the helicopter set down on a barren strip of rocks between two glaciers. A dozen bags of supplies, a rifle and a can of cooking gas were tossed out onto the cold ground. Then, with engines whining, the helicopter lifted off, snow and fog swirling in the rotor wash.

“It feels a little like the days of the old explorers, doesn’t it?” Dennis Schmitt said.

Mr. Schmitt, a 60-year-old explorer from Berkeley, Calif., had just landed on a newly revealed island 400 miles north of the Arctic Circle in eastern Greenland. It was a moment of triumph: he had discovered the island on an ocean voyage in September 2005. Now, a year later, he and a small expedition team had returned to spend a week climbing peaks, crossing treacherous glaciers and documenting animal and plant life.

Despite its remote location, the island would almost certainly have been discovered, named and mapped almost a century ago when explorers like Jean-Baptiste Charcot and Philippe, Duke of Orléans, charted these coastlines. Would have been discovered had it not been bound to the coast by glacial ice.

snip...
Now, where the maps showed only ice, a band of fast-flowing seawater ran between a newly exposed shoreline and the aquamarine-blue walls of a retreating ice shelf. The water was littered with dozens of icebergs, some as large as half an acre; every hour or so, several more tons of ice fractured off the shelf with a thunderous crack and an earth-shaking rumble.

more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/16/science/earth/16gree.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Bigmack]

1. Oooooooh shiiiiit!

Actually, that should be "Oooooooh Thermohalene Circulation shiiiiiit!

[hatrack]

2. Very interesting - thanks for the post!

I think something similar happened on the Antarctic Peninsula - where a peninsula suddenly became an island when the ice went out permanently.

[citygal]

3. I finally watched Al Gore's film

and have always thought the environment should be a top priority. I still wish Clinton had done more during his eight years, although I am sure * would have reversed it all and then some. But watching these huge glaciers break off in parts of Antarctica is so frightening. And the fact that polar bears are now drowning in the Arctic (because there are not enough blocks of ice to grab onto because everything is melting) is impossible to ignore. I read that that polar bear extinction, unlike any previous, may be directly linked to global warming. Their land is literally melting beneath them.

[Kadie]

8. Welcome to DU citygal!

:hi:

[Mojorabbit]

4. The news just gets worse

It seems everytime I read one of these articles the scientists are surprised at how fast things are happening.

[usregimechange]

5. Oh my... k and r!

[Kadie]

9. .

Thanks for kicking this thread usregimechange.

:hi:

:kick:

[usregimechange]

6. kick

[usregimechange]

7. kick...???

[yardwork]

10. k&r

[usregimechange]

11. kick

[RestoreGore]

12. Very Concerned About Glacial Earthquakes

http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2006/story03-23-06.php

They are happening more frequently on Greenland now and with the rapidly melting ice, that leads us to a dangerous scenario.

[Morgana LaFey]

13. I had never heard of such a thing -- very interesting

thanks for the link.

[RestoreGore]

14. You're welcome n/t

[Telly Savalas]

15. Awesome!

This means I should have a much easier time finding seed capital for my Northern Ontario Banana Farm business venture.