Greenland and the Arctic Region In
the prior blog, we showed how the oceans correlate with the US Annual Mean temperatures. These oscillations play a key role in the arctic and Greenland. GREENLAND Many recent studies have addressed Greenland mass balance. They yield a broad picture of slight inland thickening and strong near-coastal...
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| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.365.9401 http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Greenland_and_the_Arctic.pdf |
| Summary: | the prior blog, we showed how the oceans correlate with the US Annual Mean temperatures. These oscillations play a key role in the arctic and Greenland. GREENLAND Many recent studies have addressed Greenland mass balance. They yield a broad picture of slight inland thickening and strong near-coastal thinning, primarily in the south along fast-moving outlet glaciers. AR4 assessment of the data and techniques suggests overall mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet ranging between growth by 25 Gigatonnes per year (Gt/year) and shrinkage by 60 Gt/year for 1961.2003. This range changes to shrinkage by 50 to 100 Gt/year for 1993.2003 and by even higher rates between 2003and 2005. However, interannual variability is very large, driven mainly by variability in summer melting and sudden glacier accelerations. Consequently, the short time interval covered by instrumental data is of concern in separating fluctuations from trends. But in a paper published in Science in February 2007, Dr Ian Howat of the University of Washington paper published online by Science reports that two of the largest glaciers have suddenly slowed, bringing the rate of melting last year down to near the previous rate. At one glacier, Kangerdlugssuaq, "average thinning over the |
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