Sunday, December 16, 2007

Greenland's Ice Sheet

According to preliminary satellite data released by NASA, 552 billion tons of ice melted this summer from the Greenland ice sheet. That is 15% more than the annual average summer melt, and it beat 2005's record of worst ice melt. A record amount of surface ice was also lost from the Greenland ice sheet, 12% more than the previous worst year in 2005, according to the data recently released by the University of Colorado. That is nearly quadruple the amount that melted just 15 years ago. It is an amount that could cover Washington D. C. a half mile deep. The surface area of summer sea ice floating in the Arctic Ocean this summer was 23% the previous record. And for the first time in history, the Northwest Passage was open to navigation.





Could be these signs of global warming? The earth is heating up, but is it caused by human activity or is it natural? Before you decide, imagine the earth without machines polluting it, and then compare it with earth today.

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