A Greenland Glacier Has Lost a Behemoth Chunk of Ice. What Does That Mean?
Petermann Glacier Breakup NASAIs the August 5 breakup of the Petermann Glacier a symptom -- or just a symbol -- of climate change? Earlier this month, a city-sized ice island broke off from Greenland's Petermann Glacier and was detected in NASA satellite imagery, which showed that the Petermann lost about a quarter of its 43-mile-long floating ice shelf. An Associated Press article last week stated that the moment the Petermann Glacier cracked symbolized a warming world like no other. But is the Petermann Glacier break-off truly a benchmark event in the unfolding story of Arctic warming? Researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) say probably not. In recent decades, losses of ice in Greenland have caused glaciers to speed up to two to three times their typical flow rate in just one year, such as the rapid acceleration of the Jacobshavn Glacier in the 1980s. And...