Jason Box reports that the Greenland ice sheet darkening
recorded in satellite albedo1 measurements is setting new
records this summer, especially at high altitudes. Box recently
blogged that ice sheet reflectivity this summer “has been the
lowest since accurate records began in March, 2000″. What I
expect we will see if these low albedo conditions persist is
100% surface melting over the ice sheet. This would be a first
in observations. It may not happen this year, but the trajectory
the ice sheet is on, along with amplified Arctic warming, will
have the ice sheet responding by melting more and more. To see
this darkening in action, have a look at the MODIS image of the
west Greenland ice sheet here. You can see the surface melt
spreading inland and upwards, grey ice dotted with blue lakes.
Add another interesting, if depressing, graph to the panoply of
information on the Arctic summer. The sea ice doesn’t look too
good either… In other Greenland-related news, a new study
published in Proceedings of the Nati