Washington
Post: Global warming is taking its toll on the world's
glaciers. On Monday the Petermann Glacier, which connects
Greenland's ice sheet to the Arctic Ocean, was diminished
significantly by the second major calving event in the past
three years: A 120-km
2 chunk, about the size of Manhattan, broke off. In
August 2010 the glacier lost a piece twice that
sizeâmdash;the largest in the observational
record for Greenland. Because 80% of glacier melt takes place
under water, scientists attribute Monday's event to warmer
ocean temperatures. Whether the recent loss will cause the
glacier's flow rate to accelerate, as the 2010 event did,
remains to be seen. To monitor Greenland's ice sheet in real
time, visit the
National Snow and Ice
Data Center website.
