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Greenland Is Getting Darker

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-not-dark-yet-but-it's-getting-there dept.

sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Greenland's white snow is getting darker. Scientists have generally attributed that darkening to larger, slightly less white snow grains caused by warmer temperatures. But researchers have found a new source of darkening taking hold: impurities in the snow. The new darkening effect could easily add 2 centimeters to the projections of 20 cm sea level rise by 2100—and perhaps more if impurity levels grow with time."

6 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Greenland Is Getting Darker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And Leon's Getting Larrrrrrrrrrrrger

  2. China anyone? by WindBourne · · Score: 5, Informative

    As long as China insists on NOT using their pollution controls (they built them on new plants per the treaty with japan, but japan forgot to require china to turn them on; besides as we have seen with their money, they really do not care about treaties; only winning a cold war ), this pollution will continue.

    And yes, the pollution really carries that far. 10-15% of the western America's pollution is from China.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:China anyone? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, and as long as WE keep buying their cheap crap, WE actually reward this behaviour.

      Remember, that thing called free market? Where the buyer decides what products flourish and what products perish based on his decision what he buys and what he doesn't? It's the only little bit of free market left that we have, and, well, it seems that we want China to pump out black smoke as long as it means we get to buy cheap crap.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Re:Getting extremely sick of this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    yeah, I hate science too. They try to force evolution, vaccines and all kinds of crap on us, but it is clear to me that we two understands this much better than they do.

  4. Re:More climate lies by MacTO · · Score: 5, Informative

    Try looking up albedo, then performing some calculations to figure out how changes in the albedo changes changes the local temperature. Finally use that change in temperature to figure out how much ice will melt. While your results won't be as good as those produced by experienced research scientists, the basics are well within the grasp of someone with a high school education. Indeed, it is a common exercise for first year students in the physical sciences.

    Once you've done that, you'll be better equipped to assess whether or not this is a climate lie.

  5. Re: ...if impurity levels grow with time. by radtea · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No wonder people doubt climate change when scientists say things like this..

    I'm just guessing here based on nothing but a few decades of involvement in the scientific community, but I'd say it's pretty likely that a) the scientists in question have thought of your objection already and b) they have quantified the relative contributions from increased grain size vs increased dark pollutants.

    What would be incredibly stupid is assuming that people who study this stuff professionally can be out-thought by a random Internet commenter who has just encountered the question for the first time.

    But just in case, let me ask you: what is the quantitative relationship between grain size and reflectivity of snow? Please respond with a graph or formula. You must have access to this information to judge the relative importance of grain size vs pollutant cover, and it would be a positive contribution to this discussion to share it.

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    Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.