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Climate Change
New York Times
1-21-19
Greenland's Melting Ice Nears a Tipping Point
By John Schwartz
Did you know?
Here is what we know...
Greenland's enormous ice sheets are melting at such an accelerated rate that it could become a major factor in sea-level rise around the world within two decades.
In 2012, more than 400 billion tons of ice melted
This was four times the rate in 2003
There was a lull in 2013-2014 due to the North Atlantic Oscillation, but losses of ice have resumed and that's more troubling
Other References:
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/review/how-to-help/
New York Times
Greenland Is Melting Away
By Coral Davenport, Josh Haner, Larry Buchanan, and Derek Watkins
How do we know this is occurring?
The Arctic is warming at twice the average rate of the rest of the planet
How can kids combat Global Warming?
Follow suggestions in handout
Scientists use satellite data and ground based instruments to measure the ice loss in Greenland
Let's avoid "the tipping point!"
The North Atlantic Oscillation
Why?
- It is basically a pattern of weather
- It occurs in two phases
- A negative phase of the NAO is associated with the warmer air, less snow fall and more sunlight
- A negative phase causes the ice to continue to melt at a fast rate
- Before 2000, the temperatures were cool enough that the positive and negatives cycles did not have much of an affect on the melting in Greenland
What's the Effect?
Coastal cities be washed away by the rising sea levels
The short answer is global warming
If the planet continues to warm at a rate of two degrees Celsius, then the average sea levels will rise more than two feet
Now for the longer answer
Ice melt and warmer oceans
are causing the sea levels to rise
This is moving our planet toward the tipping point