Greenland Glaciers Melting Much Faster

grqb writes "NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says that satellite observations indicate that Greenland's glaciers have been dumping ice into the Atlantic Ocean at a rate that's doubled over the past five years. Greenland Ice Sheet's annual loss has risen from 21.6 cubic miles in 1996 to 36 cubic miles in 2005 and it now contributes about 0.5 millimeters out of 3 millimeters to global sea level increases. One theory as to why this is happening is that the meltwater, caused by increasing temperatures in Greenland, serves as a lubricant for the moving ice, hastening its push to the sea. Another study has estimated that the warming rate in Greenland was 2.2 times faster than the global norm -- which is in line with U.N. climate models."

Comments

Global warming / Global dimming

[haeger]

I found this interesting link that talks about something called Global dimming. I've read some about it and it appears as if the global warming is faster now that a lot of countries have reduced their emissions that blocks sunlight, thus making the greenhouse gases even more "effective".
It's a scary read. Some evidence seems to support that global dimming might be the cause of famine in Africa.
There's a lot about the subject on google.

.haeger

Not Good For Low-Lying Islands

[Wellerite]

Islands like Kiribati and Tuvalu in the Pacific ocean have already been experiencing rising sea-levels over a period of 13 years according to a tide-gauge project run by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

The rate of about 6mm (0.236 inches) per year is quite slow, but it is significant for low-lying islands like these ones.