Newly published research by a UGA climatologist shows that seasonal melt on Greenland’s ice sheet during the summer of 2007 was 60 percent more than the previous high, set in 1998. The new information is consistent with other indicators of worldwide global climate change, says geography Professor Thomas L. Mote, author of the study.
Perhaps just as dramatic as the huge increase in snow melt is that Greenland had as many as 50 more days of melt than average, and the melting season began a month earlier than normal. Just why the huge increase in melt occurred in the summer of 2007 is not yet entirely clear, though increasing surface temperatures are part of it, Mote says.
Coastal meteorological stations showed higher-than-average temperatures for most of the season. Another reason may be changes in the surface of the ice sheet itself. Large streams of water actually flow through chasms and cracks down to the land’s surface and cause the ice sheet to become unstable.
