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"The last very big change was the one that ended the last ice age," explained Kurt Cuffey, a professor in the Geography and Earth and Planetary Sciences departments at the University of California at Berkeley. "What they found pretty clearly is that the melt…began immediately." By immediately, Cuffey explained, he means geologically speaking -- within a few centuries or less. The new method fills in a void of information caused by the glaciers themselves. Each new glacial advance tends to obliterate the evidence of past surges and retreats, unless it's left piled up at what was once the end of the glacier. In the case of Greenland, however, the glaciers end in the sea, which complicates the job of locating and studying them. As for how it all relates to the recent accelerated melt and net loss of ice mass over much of Greenland, Carlson said their data could herald a lot more of the same. "What we can say is that (the Greenland Ice Sheet) responded very fast," said Carlson. "Our data suggest that the current negative mass balance is the beginning of a long-term trend." Related Links: Larry O'Hanlon's blog: Earth Impacts National Snow and Ice Data Center Discovery News: Global Warming, What You Need to Know NASA Images Reveal Greenland Icesheet Losing Mass How Stuff Works: If the polar ice caps melted, how much would the oceans rise? |
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