NS - 75% Of Greenland Ice Loss From Undersides Of Glaciers; Seabed Ice Loss Speeds Movement

[hatrack]

Water warmed by climate change is taking giant bites out of the underbellies of Greenland's glaciers. As much as 75 per cent of the ice lost by the glaciers is melted by ocean warmth. "There's an entrenched view in the public community that glaciers only lose ice when icebergs calve off," says Eric Rignot at the University of California, Irvine. "Our study shows that what's happening beneath the water is just as important."

In the summer of 2008, Rignot's team measured salinity, temperature and current speeds near four calving fronts in three fjords in western Greenland. They calculated melting rates from this data.
Unplugged

The underwater faces of the different glaciers retreated by between 0.7 and 3.9 metres each day, representing 20 times more ice than melts off the top of the glacier. This creates ice overhangs that crumble into the sea, says Paul Holland at the British Antarctic Society.

Warming water may also be unlocking ice from the seabed, removing the buttresses that stop inland ice sliding out to sea, says Rignot. This is one way that warming oceans could be helping to shift Greenland's ice off the land and out to sea.

EDIT

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18520-greenlands-glaciers-disappearing-from-the-bottom-up.html

[mikehiggins]

1. You have to wonder if Tiger Woods' illegitimate babies are quite

as important as stories like these.

When the history of this time is written (probably on board really, really big boats)the role of the media in diverting attention from this threat will bring to it well deserved disgust.

Worse of all is the fact that people like Mitch McConnell will most likely survive.

[Nihil]

2. Sadly, a glance at the headlines on the train this morning ...

... shows that the UK media think that it is more important to
know where a couple of mediocre football players have been sticking
their dicks (and the "exclusive" response of the previous recipients).

Between that and the praise for the "gallant heroes fighting in
Afghanistan", it will be a complete surprise to many of the braindead
public when London gets significantly more than ankle deep in water ...

(Mind you, they'll probably just be reading their content-free papers
on the platforms of their home stations and wondering why the trains
are backed up ...)
:banghead: