Global warming '30 times quicker than it used to be'

A satellite study of the Greenland ice cap shows that it is melting far faster than scientists had feared - twice as much ice is going into the sea as it was five years ago. The implications for rising sea levels - and climate change - could be dramatic.

Yet, a few weeks ago, when I - a Nasa climate scientist - tried to talk to the media about these issues following a lecture I had given calling for prompt reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases, the Nasa public affairs team - staffed by political appointees from the Bush administration - tried to stop me doing so. I was not happy with that, and I ignored the restrictions. The first line of Nasa's mission is to understand and protect the planet.

This new satellite data is a remarkable advance. We are seeing for the first time the detailed behaviour of the ice streams that are draining the Greenland ice sheet. They show that Greenland seems to be losing at least 200 cubic kilometres of ice a year. It is different from even two years ago, when people still said the ice sheet was in balance.

Hundreds of cubic kilometres sounds like a lot of ice. But this is just the beginning. Once a sheet starts to disintegrate, it can reach a tipping point beyond which break-up is explosively rapid. The issue is how close we are getting to that tipping point. The summer of 2005 broke all records for melting in Greenland. So we may be on the edge.

Our understanding of what is going on is very new. Today's forecasts of sea-level rise use climate models of the ice sheets that say they can only disintegrate over a thousand years or more. But we can now see that the models are almost worthless. They treat the ice sheets like a single block of ice that will slowly melt. But what is happening is much more dynamic.

Once the ice starts to melt at the surface, it forms lakes that empty down crevasses to the bottom of the ice. You get rivers of water underneath the ice. And the ice slides towards the ocean.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article345926.ece

havent you noticed how hot the weather has been in the bay area lately.get real, ive lived here for decades and 20 years ago you had to wait 4 months before you even saw a warm sunny day. 74 degrees in early february and no weatherman in media saying anything about it.people are ignorant of climate. i havent wore a heavy coat for 1 YEAR, a virtual impossibility years ago.come on now, have you worn a heavy coat in the past year in the bay area?. do you walk by a ''winter gear'' tore and felt the need to get a winter coat?. no, we are in global warming and the ''news people'' dont say a word on tv radio. it was so warm in february. i was in shirtsleeves all late january early february. there was a time where i would wear a coat for 4 5 months straight and it was cloudy .and windy.has anyone ever seen a windy day in last 2 years..san francisco used to be very breezy and cool downtown.now its a sweatbox on many ''winter'' days.

You are absolutely right. My lilacs bloomed a month early this year. The fruit trees were budding and blooming much earlier than usual as well.

I don't think people realize the long term implications of this. I do, and its terrifying. As the ice caps melt- the tremendous quantity of fresh water introduced into the oceans will not only raise the level of the sea, it will change the course of ocean currents. Some areas that are fairly temperate because of the gulf stream will experience drastic climate changes as the current is changed or lost.

Have you been reading about the tremendous loss of amphibian life on our planet? There is increasing evidence that the critters are dying off from a fungal infection, exascerbated by global warming.

There is a current die-off of the magnificent California oaks in many locations. These majestic trees supported whole cultures and form the backbone of entire ecosystems. This has also been linked to a fungal infection- perhaps also affected by climate change.