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Science 24 November 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5803, p. 1213
DOI: 10.1126/science.314.5803.1213e
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This Week in Science
The rate at which Greenland Ice Sheet is melting appears to be accelerating. Luthcke et al. (p. 1286, published online 19 October; see the Perspective by Cazenave) report results from an analysis of data collected by GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), the pair of satellites launched in 2002, that can follow melting by measuring tiny variations in gravity caused by the redistribution of Earth's mass. Like other recent studies, they find that Greenland is losing ice at an alarming rate, 101 ± 16 gigatons (Gt) of ice per year from 2003 to 2005, compared to the average of about 12 Gt of ice per year for the decade between 1992 and 2002, and they see that ice sheet appears to be losing mass along its southern edges and gaining slightly in its interior. However, the rate they have calculated is much less than other recent estimates, which are closer to 240 Gt of ice per year for the same period. Why the method used in this estimate is so much less than in other stories, and which estimate is correct, has yet to be resolved.
CREDIT: LUTHCKE ET AL. |
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)
