More weird climatic stuff going on… though I have two questions:

1. Did they really have satellites in 1889?
2. How can something that happened before be “unprecedented”?

Interesting topic – but poorly written.

Three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 per cent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface and by July 12 an estimated 97 per cent of the ice sheet had begun melting.

Nearly all of Greenland’s massive ice sheet suddenly started melting a bit this month, a freak event that surprised scientists.

Even Greenland’s coldest and highest place, Summit station, showed melting. Ice core records show that last happened in 1889 and occurs about once every 150 years.

Three satellites show what NASA calls unprecedented melting of the ice sheet that blankets the island, starting on July 8 and lasting four days. Most of the thick ice remains. While some ice usually melts during the summer, what was unusual was that the melting happened in a flash and over a widespread area.

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Tags: climate change, greenland

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.