Massive Changes in Greenland Ice as Global Warming Accelerates

Arctic Ice Continues to Deteriorate at Alarming Rate

Researchers notified the world last week that on August 5, 2010 a massive ice island four times the size of Manhattan has broken off and become an iceberg in northwestern Greenland.[source] Satellite images of the area show that the Petermann Glacier lost about one-quarter of its 43-mile-long floating ice shelf. Petermann Glacier is located about 600 miles south of the North Pole. The Petermann glacier is one of Greenland's two largest glaciers and connects Greenland's ice sheet directly with the ocean. Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Service is being credited with detecting the ice island early, in fact hours after raw data from a NASA satellite was downloaded, processed, and analyzed at the university.[source]

Detailed studies show that Greenland as a whole is rapidly warming, with accelerated loss of annual ice adding to increases in global sea levels.[source] “Petermann Glacier has stayed about the same size over the last century,” says Andreas Muenchow, a leading scientist studying the latest event. “Well, up until yesterday.”[source] 

From the New York Times:

On Saturday, Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachussets, and chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, used the unusual event to fire a salvo at Republican opponents of climate change legislation in the Senate.

“An iceberg four times the size of Manhattan has broken off Greenland, creating plenty of room for global warming deniers to start their own country,” Mr. Markey said in a statement. “So far, 2010 has been the hottest year on record, and scientists agree Arctic ice is a canary in a coal mine that provides clear warnings on climate.”

I couldn’t have said it better. With all the new data coming in on climate change global warming deniers will find it increasingly difficult to make their case. I'm always amazed at the sheer ignorance it must take to deny what researchers all over the planet are reporting. At this point, many observers are being led to the conclusion that global warming denialism has more to do with people's exclusive interests in their own economic and ideological concerns than in any serious investigation into the issue.

SIDESHOW: Or, alternatively, various Christian websites are attributing the break-up of arctic ice sheets as God’s condemnation of homosexuals – read here: “Massive Ice Glacier Breaks off Greenland, Gays Responsible”. WTF?