Record Melting in Greenland

 

Here's what I think: The knuckle-dragging foolishness about global warming of the sort we're seeing in Montana or hearing on NPR isn't going to last much longer, because things are going to get very serious very soon. This image from microwave data from NASA's invaluable Earth Observatory shows anomalous days of melting for 2010--a new record, 50 days more than usual. 

Melting ice in Greenland freshens the seas near the Arctic and contributes to rising sea levels around the world. It is unclear just how much melting ice from Greenland will push sea levels up, largely because the melting is occurring much more quickly than scientists predicted. Current estimates call for an increase of up to 0.6 meters by 2100.

That's two feet. The consequences of even a one-foot rise in global sea level will get everyone's attention in a hurry. If we don't want to go there, though, we've can't afford to dawdle now.

--Paul Rauber