Friday, July 27, 2012

That Greenland Ice Sheet Graphic.


So...before you lose your mind over this, thinking that Greenland melted...let's look at what REALLY happened.

The graphic is correct that 97% of the SURFACE ice melted...but that's a very small percentage in comparison to the entire ice sheet. The sheet can be 2 miles thick in some areas with yearly melt forming vast lakes in weeks. So no, most of Greenland did NOT melt in July...just most of the surface ice.

Also, realize that, while this has never been recorded in the 30 years of satellite imaging, it has been determined that this type of mass melt happens about once every 150 years, and this year's melt was right on schedule.

Interested in even more than those two tidbits which greatly affect the reading of this graphic, take a look at this article...
http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/commentisfree/2012/jul/27/greenland-ice-sheet-melt

Basic idea is that, yes, a massive melt happened in a four day period larger than any recorded in the last 30 years. HOWEVER, the entire sheet did NOT melt, not even CLOSE to "most" of Greenland melted, and it was a predictable event given research data. Still be better to the Earth, but don't go around telling people that Greenland is now actually green.

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