Greenland melt extent.
Credit: NSIDC
Greenland had experienced a cool spring and a higher than average snowfall which has left the ice sheet relatively solid. The reduced melting and fresh snow had led to a whiter ice sheet, then what has been seen recently, reflecting sunlight back into space. In June and especially July, the albedo effect caused by warming temperatures, soot and melt water has turned half the Greenland ice sheet surface to liquid. This is well beyond normal for this time of the year.
Climate Central reports.
Persistent high pressure has been camping over Greenland since mid-June. More recently, the weather pattern driving the European heat wave, dubbed an atmospheric shruggie — ¯_(ツ)_/¯ — by Mashable’s Andrew Freedman (and an omega block by stodgy, old weather watchers), is also responsible for continuing to help keep Greenland warmer than normal.
The high temperatures in Europe have been more eye-popping, clearing 100°F from Spain to the Netherlands and setting an all-time July temperature record at London’s Heathrow Airport. But temperatures in the upper 30s and low 40s are still doing a number on Greenland’s ice sheet. Estimates from the National Snow and Ice Data Center indicate that roughly half the ice sheet’s surface is melting, well above the average of around 25 percent for this time of year.
In addition to warmer than normal temperatures, Greenland’s ice sheet has been getting steadily darker. This year currently ranks as the third-darkest on record for early July.
It is probable that the wildfires raging in the forests of
Alaska,
Canada and grass fires in
Siberia have darkened the ice with a layer of soot that is absorbing more sunlight and accelerating the melting process that in turn is accelerating
sea level rise and changing how the
gulf stream currents move.
Ice sheet darkness, known as albedo, estimates. Red indicates darker ice.
Credit:Polar Portal
We still do not know what kind of future horrors await the biosphere due to this massive ice surface loss. We will probably be surprised at the intensity of both the known and unknown catastrophic effects this melting process will have. What we do know is that we haven't seen nothing yet.
Daily surface mass balance estimates of the Greenland ice sheet. Red indicates losses.
Credit: Polar Portal
As a South Florida resident, I am well aware of the danger of sea level rise to my home and community of millions. Perhaps sea level rise will not be our doom, perhaps hotter and hotter temperatures or a monstrous hurricane will finish us off. What all of us should dread is the ticking time bomb of massive methane release.
Pushing 60 here and I have thought for years that I would escape the worst effects of climate change because I would be dead. I no longer believe that is the case. I really do not want to wrap my mind about the intense physical and mental suffering that we will experience. It is driving me crazy, but for some reason I can't stop myself from thinking about the haunting that is climate change.
I am hopeful that the climate talks in Paris will be a success. But that happens in December and whatever the nations of the world decide , we will only have a very short window of opportunity to move rapidly to end greenhouse gas emissions. If we do, perhaps future generations may be able to eke out some sort of existence as we are already locked into a hellish future and there will be no escaping that. We need to make sure that Democrats win the elections in 2016. Not one of the Republican candidates will act and we all know it. Some of them may believe in man made warming, but they won't act because Al Gore wears khakis and President Obama is black. The Republican party really is that shallow, vindictive and petty. They will end up killing us all. We must work to make sure they will never have that chance.