R
rdean
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Scattered across the world's largest island, as big as Alaska and California combined and 80 percent covered by ice, small bands of specialists tended to GPS sites and automatic weather stations, drilled down into the island's frozen cap, and analyzed the air and clouds overhead, working long hours under the midnight sun. All this is to help begin answering a crucial question: How much of Greenland's ice will melt, and how quickly, in a world growing warmer and warming fastest in the Arctic?
If all the ice eventually slipped into the ocean, it would be enough to raise global sea levels by 23 feet. Even a fraction of that would inundate Bangladesh and south Florida, drown small islands and threaten cities as widely dispersed as Shanghai and New York. But as temperatures rise from greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the answer isn't coming easily. The challenge -- scientific, logistical -- appears greater than the resources devoted to it.
On Endless Ice, Searching for Clues to Our Future
If all the ice eventually slipped into the ocean, it would be enough to raise global sea levels by 23 feet. Even a fraction of that would inundate Bangladesh and south Florida, drown small islands and threaten cities as widely dispersed as Shanghai and New York. But as temperatures rise from greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the answer isn't coming easily. The challenge -- scientific, logistical -- appears greater than the resources devoted to it.
On Endless Ice, Searching for Clues to Our Future