Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Changes (2003-2009) [720p]

The mass changes of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) are computed from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) inter-satellite range-rate observations for the period April 5, 2003 - July 25, 2009. The mass of the GIS has been computed at 10-day intervals and 200km spatial resolution from a regional high-resolution mascon solution (Luthcke and others, 2008 and 2006). The animation shows the change in mass referenced from April 5, 2003. The spatial variation in surface mass is shown in centimeters equivalent height of water. The time variation of the GIS mass is shown in the x-y plot insert with units of Gigatons.

credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

source: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003663/index.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Greenland
• climate change
• global warming
• ice sheet
• melting ice

[ScientiaVeritasEtLux]

why does the ice volume increase in the center of greenland as time progresses. That seems strange since the edges are thinning in volume. What is the climatic reason for this? Higher rate of precipitation? Why?

[djxatlanta]

Yes, warmer temperatures in the region are causing increased precipitation over Greenland, which falls as snow in the center. And as I understand temperature models (and I could be wrong about this), as the melting glaciers help transport heat away from the center to the coasts, there is a temporary net cooling of the central regions, causing the snow to build up as ice faster. But as Greenland's glaciers retreat even further, the central regions will begin to lose ice later in the century.

[ManosOceano]

did the sun rise early this year?

[Tampajoe77]

compare the views here to any gaga bullshit posted at the same date... and you'll see what human civilization is all about.

We're fucked, and we don't care.

[lakeerie90s]

anyone know how deep the ice sheet is on average? if it is 1 km deep, then it should last a few hundred years.