Climate Change -- Breaking the Ice: Science Online Special Collection

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Special Online Collection: Climate Change -- Breaking the Ice

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In the 24 March Issue
In Previous Issues

In the 24 March 2006 Science: A special report on what's happening to the world's ice sheets. Recent research papers in Science and elsewhere are pointing to a major acceleration in the loss of mass from the world's great ice sheets. That means that the sensitivity of these giant storehouses of water to climate warming may be far greater than expected -- with potentially dire sea level implications during the next several centuries. Science examines the state of this research, and its sobering implications, in an Editorial, a special News Focus, Perspective articles, and cutting-edge research papers in this week's issue -- as well as several segments in our 24 March podcast. We've also included links to selected review and research articles on the topic from previous issues of Science over the past several years.

In the 24 March 2006 Science

EDITORIAL

Ice and History: D. Kennedy and B. Hanson

NEWS FOCUS

A Worrying Trend of Less Ice, Higher Seas: R. Kerr

PERSPECTIVES

Greenland Rumbles Louder as Glaciers Accelerate: I. Joughin
Hitting the Ice Sheets Where It Hurts: R. Bindschadler

Of related interest on this week's Science Podcast

This week's show includes interviews with Science news writer Richard Kerr on the disappearance of the world's great ice sheets, and with news writer Eli Kintisch on the progress -- or lack thereof -- of several major countries in limiting greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

REPORTS

Paleoclimatic Evidence for Future Ice-Sheet Instability and Rapid Sea-Level Rise: J. T. Overpeck et al.
Simulations of Earth's climate 130,000 years ago, compared with warming projected to occur over the next century, imply that widespread melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet is possible.
Simulating Arctic Climate Warmth and Icefield Retreat in the Last Interglaciation: B. L. Otto-Bliesner et al.
Simulations of ice dynamics and climate 130,000 years ago indicate that melting of ice sheets in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic raised sea level by 2.2 to 3.4 meters.
Measurements of Time-Variable Gravity Show Mass Loss in Antarctica: I. Velicogna and J. Wahr
Satellite measurements of Earth's gravity reveal that the mass of ice in Antarctica decreased from 2002 to 2005, mainly from losses in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Seasonality and Increasing Frequency of Greenland Glacial Earthquakes: G. Ekström, M. Nettles, V. C. Tsai
Greenland glacier earthquakes produced beneath ice streams and outlet glaciers occur more often in summer and have doubled in frequency over the past 5 years.

In Previous Issues of Science

REVIEWS

Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level Changes: R. B. Alley, Peter U. Clark, Philippe Huybrechts, Ian Joughin
Science 310, 456 (21 October 2005)
The Phanerozoic Record of Global Sea-Level Change: K. G. Miller et al.
Science 310, 1293 (25 November 2005)

PERSPECTIVES

The Greenland Ice Sheet and Global Sea-Level Rise: J. A. Dowdeswell
Science 310, 963 (17 February 2006)
Tipping Points in the Tundra: J. A. Foley
Science 310, 627 (28 October 2005)

REPORTS

Changes in the Velocity Structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet: E. Rignot and P. Kanagaratnam
Science 311, 986 (17 February 2006)
Stable Carbon Cycle-Climate Relationship During the Late Pleistocene: U. Siegenthaler et al.
Science 310, 1313 (25 November 2005)
Recent Ice-Sheet Growth in the Interior of Greenland: O. M. Johannessen, K. Khvorostovsky, M. W. Miles, L. P. Bobylev
Science 310, 1013 (11 November 2005)
Heat Flux Anomalies in Antarctica Revealed by Satellite Magnetic Data: Cathrine Fox Maule, Michael E. Purucker, Nils Olsen, Klaus Mosegaard
Science 309, 464 (15 July 2005)

Snowfall-Driven Growth in East Antarctic Ice Sheet Mitigates Recent Sea-Level Rise: Curt H. Davis, Yonghong Li, Joseph R. McConnell, Markus M. Frey, Edward Hanna
Science 308, 1898 (24 June 2005)
Retreating Glacier Fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past Half-Century: A. J. Cook, A. J. Fox, D. G. Vaughan, J. G. Ferrigno
Science 308, 541 (22 April 2005)
How Much More Global Warming and Sea Level Rise?: G. A. Meehl et al.
Science 307, 1769 (18 March 2005)
Accelerated Sea-Level Rise from West Antarctica: Curt H. Davis, Yonghong Li, Joseph R. McConnell, Markus M. Frey, Edward Hanna
Science 306, 255 (8 October 2004)
Ice Flow Direction Change in Interior West Antarctica: Martin J. Siegert et al.
Science 305, 1948 (24 September 2004)
Antarctic Timing of Surface Water Changes off Chile and Patagonian Ice Sheet Response: Frank Lamy et al.
Science 304, 1959 (25 June 2004)
Ice Core Evidence for Antarctic Sea Ice Decline Since the 1950s: M. A. J. Curran, T. D. van Ommen, V. I. Morgan, K. L. Phillips, Anne S. Palmer
Science 302, 1203 (14 November 2003)
Larsen Ice Shelf Has Progressively Thinned: A. Shepherd, D. Wingham, T. Payne, P. Skvarca
Science 302, 856 (31 October 2003)
Glacier Surge After Ice Shelf Collapse: H. De Angelis, P. Skvarca
Science 299, 1560 (7 March 2003)