Written by fatih al-farahat in


MODIS studies of Greenland's ice sheet (2000-2008)

Floating ice area loss is 10 times the area of Manhattan Is. (2000-2008)

Our survey of 32 of the largest Greenland tidewater glaciers indicates a continuous collective retreat end of summer 2000 onward to 2008.

A best-fit line indicates a -106.4 sq. km/yr area change around Greenland. The linear correlation coefficient is -0.98.

The cumulative area change from end of summer 2000 to 2008 is -920.5 sq km, an area loss equivalent with 10.5 times the area of Manhattan Is., New York.

The number of glaciers surveyed is increasing as graduate student David Decker continues to work.

http://bprc.osu.edu/~jbox/img/misc/32_Greenland_glaciers_cum_area_change.gif

The 32-glacier total for end of summer area change 2007-2008 was -183.8 sq km, 3 x that of the previous summer (2006-2007 area change was -62.9 sq km.). In other words, between 2007 and 2008, glaciers around Greenland lost an area more than two times the size of Manhattan Island.

* Manhattan Is. area is taken to be 87.5 sq km.

Link: http://bprc.osu.edu/MODIS/?p=47%20and%20http://bprc.osu.edu/MODIS/?p=38