GLOBAL WARMING

Greenland's Ice Sheet Melting

Unprecedented thawing gives scientists pause.

Greenland’s surface melted an “unprecedented” amount this past month, shedding a larger area of ice than has been detected in 30 years, even in the country’s coldest areas. Over just four days, the area of thawed ice went from 40 to 97 percent. Greenland usually sheds about half of its ice sheet over the summer, but the speed with which it’s melting this year has been described as “extraordinary.” “When we see melted places that we haven’t seen before, at least in a long period of time, it makes you sit up and ask what’s happening,” said one NASA scientist. “It’s a big signal, the meaning of which we’re going to sort out for years to come.”