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Update on Greenland Ice Sheet

July 31, 2013; 10:09 AM

The good folks from the National Snow and Ice Data Center continue to keep us updated on the daily status of the Greenland ice melt season with their 'Greenland Ice Sheet Today' section.

The NSIDC image below shows where there was some surface melting of the ice sheet (red) on July 29, 2013.

After a slow start, this year's melt extent (below) on the Greenland Ice Sheet is clearly running higher than the 1981-2010 average. Also, this year's peak is already later than the average.

Image courtesy of the NSIDC.

The NSIDC image below clearly shows the decrease in surface albedo from 2000 to 2012 as more melting leads to less reflectivity of the sun's rays as the surface becomes darker. Albedo has dropped by 30% in some areas since 2000, which allows more heat to be absorbed.

The three images below show the changes in the annual melt area from 1980 to 1995 to 2012 on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Images courtesy Greenlandmelting.com

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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Climate Change
In the AccuWeather.com Climate Change Blog, you will find links to the latest research, commentary by experts with various points of view on all aspects of global climate change.