Jeff Masters: The Heat Is on in Greenland
Dr. Jeff Masters has a nice write up or current Greenland conditions, and the Dark Snow Project. He mentions Maniitsoq, which is one of the stops we made last year on our way to the ice cap, and the site one month later of the warmest temps in Greenland’s historical record. See Above.
The graph Dr. Masters uses reminded me of a similar one from James Hansen, which I’ve inserted below the fold, along with ominous results of recently published research. The message is, we’d better get Greenland right.
Dr. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground:
The heat is on in Greenland, where the high temperature on Tuesday hit an unusually warm 67°F at Kangerlussuaq (Sønder Strømfjord) in southwestern Greenland. It’s been a hot June at Kangerlussuaq, where the temperature peaked at 73°F on June 15. That’s not far below the all-time hottest temperature ever recorded in Greenland of 78.6°F, set just last year on July 30 at nearby Maniitsoq Mittarfia, as documented at wunderground’s extremes page. The unusual warmth this year melted nearly 40% of the Greenland Ice Sheet in mid-June, according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center-far above the usual 15% figure. The warm June temperatures could be setting the stage for a big Greenland melt season this summer, and scientists with the Dark Snow Project are on the ice, 48 miles east Kangerlussuaq, conducting a two-month field experiment on the causes and implications of Greenland ice melt.