The Ilulissat glacier has indeed retreated dramatically in recent years - more than 15km in the last decade alone - but plenty of evidence suggests such rapid change in the ice is not unprecedented.
In fact, over the last 10,000 years (a period of long-term warming since the end of the last Ice Age), the glaciers on Greenland's west coast have been through many periods of advance and retreat.
Four thousand years ago, the Earth was significantly warmer than it is now, and accordingly the glacier retreated; but the evidence suggests it was perhaps only 20km back from its current position.
In other words, the Ilulissat glacier may reach a point in its retreat where the dynamics of the ice sheet make further regression very difficult, and very slow.
This from the BBC's website and needless to say this bit wasn't included in the news report.
1 comment:
I agree entirely. There is far too much hype and not nearly enough real research underlying the debate. I suspect that the need to hold onto "research" funding is now driving the hysteria that the so-called scientists are generating.
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