Are you worried about that Greenland ice yet?

Question

PHOTOS: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating

Aug. 28, 2008

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080822-greenland-photo.html

Arctic Ice On Verge Of Another All-time Low

Aug. 28, 2008

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080828120314.htm

Arctic sea ice now second-lowest on record

Update 9:15 am MT August 27:

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

Answer 1

No. I do not know where they are getting their all time low data.  They are still finding Viking Settlements in permafrost, which means the ice sheet was less then.

The GRIP (Greenland) borehole temperature record is not a proxy, but a direct measure of temperature (Dahl-Jensen et al. 1998). It shows that current warmth is not unusual in the context of the last 2,000 years and the ice sheet did not melt.

The same study shows warmers temperatures that lasted for three thousand years and yet the greenland ice sheet did not melt.

Edit:  I provided the authors of the study.  If you believe that we deniers are a bunch of liars, all you had to do was a quick google search.  But that is very typical.  When warmers hear things they do not want to hear , they call us liars or misinformed.  By the way here is your link:

http://www.gfy.ku.dk/~klaus/papers/B7-Sc...

Answer 2

The earth has gone through warmer and colder periods than we are currently experiencing.  The oceanic conveyor is beginning to shut down due to so much fresh water at the north pole.  This will cause the northern region to cool down again once the conveyor has shut down sufficiently to keep from drawing warm temperatures from the equator.  It may take some time, but the temperature will swing the other direction once again.

Answer 3

Looks about the same to me!

Answer 4

im more worried about manbearpig! lol

Answer 5

You worry to much,  if your really concerned about our world feed the hungry, visit the sick, give to the poor these are the things that matter. These are the things that make us human and give us hopel.

Answer 6

The arctic thaw makes navigation and commercial exploitation possible. A large part of the arctic is Canadian territory, but we have Russians (who recently demonstrated their good will in Georgia), Americans (who invaded another oil rich country in the middle east), Danes (who invaded Hans island http://www.rickbroadhead.com/hans.htm ) and now Germans

Prof. Heinrich Miller from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany commented that, "Our ice-breaking research vessel 'Polarstern' is currently on a scientific mission in the Arctic Ocean. Departing from Iceland, the route has taken the ship through the Northwest Passage into the Canadian Basin where geophysical and geological studies will be carried out along profiles into the Makarov Basin to study the tectonic history and submarine geology of the central Arctic Ocean. In addition, oceanographic as well as biological studies will be carried out. Polarstern will circumnavigate the whole Arctic Ocean and exit through the Northeast Passage."

and others all vying to encroach on Canada.  "Geological studies" translates to prospecting for minerals.

I am about 500 ft above sea level, so rising sea levels don't directly concern me, but the prospect for a naval war in the arctic over resources is a concern of most Canadians. We may have to bring the troops currently defending the Americans from Bin Laden in Afghanistan home in order to defend Canada instead.  

Answer 7

Not really, if anything bad happens I will not be around anyway by the time it does. All the same it does make you wonder whether going green is going to help, I doubt it as nature and the planets forces are far too big to go up against. Let it happen and continue with life in your normal way.

Answer 8

Actually there is evidence of the Greenland Ice Sheet getting thicker.  A 2005 Study by Zwally et al. shows that the ice sheet is melting around the edges and getting thicker in the middle.  The net effect according to the study is that the ice sheet is gaining mass, not losing mass.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ig...

Edit:  I guess when I do provide a link to an actual scientific study, it is not good enough.  It is trumped by news articles and a slide show.

Answer 9

I have been for years now, it's an alarming rate of disappearance recently though.

Answer 10

Not worried at all. It's plain to see that there are far too many human beings consuming this planet's resources far faster than can be supported. Since we don't seem inclined to be responsible and scale back on our own, we really need a good natural disaster to put us in our place.

Answer 11

No.

What is there to actually worry about?

I'm, sure the people of Greenland are not worried, so why should you be?

By the way, those are the type of pictures which everyone points to as some sort of proof of an impending disaster.

Glacier bases always recede in summer, and this is nothing new.

Sometimes more spectacularly than others.

Have you actually sat near the base of a glacier in a hot summers day to watch what happens?

It is quite spectacular to see the recession occurring in front of your eyes, with huge boulders falling off the face as you eat your lunch.

In another 6 months they will be talking about the Antarctic again, since that will be the summertime in the southern hemisphere.

Answer 12

Seems it's the civilians who care,not the politicians.Al Gore warned us.

Answer 13

Why? Ice has been melting from Greenland for the past 15,000 years.

http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/i...

Answer 14

No because what the Gore gang fails to tell you but is also scientific fact is that Due to a pattern shift, the ice pack in Antarctica (SOuth pole) is growing.  Both poles ice packs contribute to the ocean temps obviously, because the temperatures in the worlds oceans are quite stable--thank you.

Answer 15

Hard to say which is more disturbing, the situation with the Greenland Ice or the sentiment behind the answers you've received so far.

Answer 16

Havent really thought much about it.

Answer 17

Not really, I can use the bits that float off in my gin and tonic. Chin chin.

Answer 18

And 1000 years ago the Arctic Ocean was ice free sometimes the year around at least near the continental coasts. Also it was possible to farm and raise grain drops in many areas of Greenland where the ground now is frozen the year around and nothing will grow. Failing history is no excuse for ignorance of basics about what happened in these regions during recorded history.

Answer 19

If the lack of fresh water melting from the ice cap diminishes to such an extent that it switches of the Gulf Stream conveyor then I`ll be very very concerned,

Answer 20

I am not worried because Greenland ice melting and freezing can be in cycles.

Notice that at present  in the south pole there is not any melting.

Answer 21

Did you ever wonder why it was called GREENLAND?      A few hundred years ago it was not covered in ice. Did man's activities cause it to ice over? Shouldn't we not then take action to correct the problem?

Answer 22

I'm certainly concerned about the potential sea level rise associated with the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet (potentially as much as 7 meters).  While I'm far enough inland that hopefully it won't impact me directly, it will impact everyone indirectly.  As cities and island nations at low elevation become uninhabitable, the people have to go somewhere, and will also need economic assistance.

"In 2007, the Greenland ice melted at a rate of 150 percent of the average going back to 1988.

Recent studies have found that as the ice melts more rapidly, water pours through fissures and gets under glaciers, acting like a lubricant to allow the ice to race ever-faster toward the sea. In addition, when snow melts at high altitudes and then refreezes, it can absorb up to four times more sunlight, creating even more melting the next year.

Some scientists fear a snowball effect could exacerbate the ice sheet's disintegration in as little time as a matter of decades."

I think there is definitely cause for concern.

Answer 23

No, what you are seeing in the news articles is not the whole truth, in fact far from it. The ice has shrunk in length, but there is no mention of the fact that it has actually increased in depth!

Government by fear is the only way to describe some of these ludicrous claims regarding climate change

Answer 24

No, i'm not worried. I'm sure a nuke will take us all out long before 'global warming' does. The Earth has natural heating and cooling cycles as history tells us. Everyone should just get on with their lives.

Answer 25

You're second link is misleading. It states that there is a passage through the ice in the seas north of Canada. This is true but what the site doesn't say is that this route has been opened many times before to the extant that it was possible to cross it in a wooden boat. Why do you think it's called the Amundsen Northwest Passage?

As for your first link in additional details (http://my.opera.com/mariamagadalena/albu... there have always been streams like that in Greenland and other icy areas.

As for your very first link, I'm not sure what that is trying to prove. All three of the pictures are the same except for an increase in ice in the top part of the pictures. The crack that the text speaks of is just a valley in the land, not a crack in the ice. Ice is white not brown after all.

So I'm not worried about Greenland ice at all.

Answer 26

I'm not concerned.  Probably just some geothermic forces at work.  Maybe too many "scientists" are wasting their time these days.

Answer 27

Only if it results in the spread of Vikings once again.  I don't worry about the Sun falling below the horizon, either.  I've studied the past enough to know it'll rise again tomorrow.  History:  Learn it or repeat it!

Answer 28

No. there is nothing I can do about it personally, so no need to worry.   I will continue to walk and bike to save gas money and become a little more healthy though.

Answer 29

nope, in the mid-evil ages there was farming on greenland.

Answer 30

nope!! people go on about recycling & walking instead of using public transport to prevent global warming, but how is it going to stop ice melting??

Answer 31

I'm not worried about Greenland yet. It still has the ice from when Erik The Red discovered Greenland over a millennium ago. I am worried about the Arctic Circle though. It has lost ice it had 1 century ago. Overall, Greenland is doing pretty good.