So extraordinary at first I questioned the result (August 8 2012) So extraordinary at first I questioned the result (August 8 2012)

Son Nghiem the American NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory specialist in polarimetric scatterometry, whose work on Earth science remote sensing contributing to future advanced satellite instrument concepts, has identified a massive ice melt over the normally frozen wasteland of Greenland. In an article published on EcoNews by David Twomey, “Dr Son Nghiem… was analysing radar data from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Oceansat-2 satellite when he noticed that most of Greenland appeared to have undergone surface melting, Dr Nghiem said, “This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: was this real or was it due to a data error?” NASA says that for several days this month, Greenland’s surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. Nearly the entire ice cover of Greenland, from its thin, low-lying coastal edges to its more than three-kilometre-thick centre, experienced some degree of melting at its surface… NASA said that on average in the summer, about half of the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet naturally melted. …this year the extent of ice melting at or near the surface jumped dramatically. According to satellite data, an estimated 97 per cent of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July. Researchers have not yet determined whether this extensive melt event will affect the overall volume of ice loss this summer and contribute to sea level rise.”

 

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