NASA: Ice sheet decline at both poles increasing

An international team of experts supported by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has combined data from multiple satellites and aircraft to produce the most comprehensive and accurate assessment to date of ice sheet losses in Greenland and Antarctica and their contributions to sea level rise.

In a landmark study published Thursday in the journal Science, 47 researchers from 26 laboratories report the combined rate of melting for the ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica has increased during the last 20 years. Together, these ice sheets are losing more than three times as much ice each year (equivalent to sea level rise of 0.04 inches or 0.95 millimeters) as they were in the 1990s (equivalent to 0.01 inches or 0.27 millimeters). About two-thirds of the loss is coming from Greenland, with the rest from Antarctica.

To me, these findings spell big trouble, especially for folks living on that once-beautiful oceanfront spread. Think: Miami, Fla., Virginia Beach, Va., Wilmington, Del., Portland, Maine, and many, many other places in North America alone. You can read all of NASA’s release.

What warming climate will flood

Folks who go gaw gaw at the prospect of a summer weekend at, say, Rehoboth Beach or Assateague Island, or any one of hundreds of other coastal spots will be out of luck before not too long. But their descendants will find things even wetter. Planning a trip to Miami Beach, Fla.? Better go now as it is among the places that will someday be inundated due to rising sea levels. Take a look at these maps.

The idiots who don’t believe global warming, or climate change, or any other slice of science

My friend conservation columnist Ted Williams offers this insightful look at the deniers. Whatta crew.

Sea ice in Arctic measured at record low

The underlying cause of the ongoing melt is, of course, our planet’s changing climate for which we humans are responsible, not sun spots or some other cause from outer space. The NY Times has the story.

Satellites see unprecedented Greenland ice sheet surface melt

Yet another big piece of evidence that Earth’s climate is changing – for the worse – and humans are to blame. Will politicians act? Nah, they’re too busy tallying up the campaign contributions that just rolled in from Big Oil and Big Coal and other assorted corporate polluters.

Global warming’s terrifying new math

Vermonter Bill McKibben’s new essay can be read at this link.

Better visit Fla. now before sea-level rise takes it away

The underlying reason for sea-level rise in Florida and elsewhere is the human-caused warming of our climate and the melting of glaciers, the Greenland ice cap and polar ice. This isn’t rocket science, buckaroos, even though deniers would like us to think it is. In any case, read here about the forecast for coastal Florida.

Sea levels alng East Coast rising faster than elsewhere, study shows

The reason why sea levels are rising is directly traceable to human actions, like the burning of coal to make electricity. The climate change deniers can cry foul all they want, but that will not change the fact that the Greenland ice sheet is melting and West Antarctic ice is also returning to water. Read the reporting here.

Chesapeake Bay’s Tangier Island among climate change’s victims

Rising sea levels, a result of the melting of polar ice and the Greenland ice cap by the human-caused warming of the atmosphere (climate change!), are swamping Tangier Island off Virginia’s mainland coast. Some folks, this article notes, see engineering and high-tech stuff as the solution, forgetting that nature bats last in this human-caused debacle. Yes, a way of life and a rich marine culture are at risk, but it does no good to blame anybody other than ourselves.

Greenland’s ice sheet: Climate change picture worsens

I was surprised to learn recently that the U. S. Air Force still operates Thule Air Base on the west coast of Greenland. I never made it there, but did spend a nice week or so at Keflavik, Iceland, back in the days of my service with the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. In any case, the whole climate change outlook is indeed worsening and tipping points are falling. So, go on denying reality if you want, but the ice tells the story.