# Greenlands ice sheet has pretty much entirely melted this year. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336 "2012-07-25T14:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/21 "2012-07-25T18:31:50Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Interesting [topographical map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Topographic_map_of_Greenland_bedrock.jpg) of Greenland’s land mass sans ice. Much of the interior is below sea level–900+ feet at the deepest. With their limited economy, I suggest Kalaallit Nunaat sell the naming rights to their new lakes. I’m picturing future generations of schoolchildren asking how Lake Hardrockresortandcasinodotcom got its name. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/22 "2012-07-25T18:36:09Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The Greenland Ice sheet melts periodically. The last melt off was in 1889. Is this an indication of global warming? Not quite-there is no indication of a trend as yet. > Greenland was substantially warmer than today, 100 years ago-crops were grown there, and farms fluorished. Sorry, but that is just [plain wrong](http://grist.org/article/greenland-used-to-be-green/). In any case, what is happening today is very likely not a one-time fluke, given the [rapidly accelerating melt being seen](http://www.skepticalscience.com/melting-ice-global-warming.htm), along with rapidly rising global temperatures ([see how much warmer it was now than in the late 1800s](http://www.skepticalscience.com/the-best-kind-of-skepticism.html); ironically, this was from a study by skeptics in an attempt to discredit global temperature records). Sort of like [this](http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/07/09/513425/us-sees-hottest-12-months-and-hottest-half-year-on-record-noaa-calls-record-heat-a-one-in-16-million-event/), on the extreme heat seen in the U.S. over the past year or so (yeah, so it is local weather, not climate, but it is the extremity that is significant): > [@](#): > > As meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters puts it, “Thus, we should only see one more 13-month period so warm between now and 124,652 AD–assuming the climate is staying the same as it did during the past 118 years. These are ridiculously long odds, and it is highly unlikely that the extremity of the heat during the past 13 months could have occurred without a warming climate.” ETA: [Sea level](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Recent_Sea_Level_Rise.png) is also higher now that in the 1800s as well, which can only be because it is warmer and more ice has melted (recently, most sea level rise has been due to melting ice). ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/23 "2012-07-25T18:49:19Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Re: 1889, are you saying the ice sheet melted away completely back then? And that sea levels were correspondingly 23 feet higher than they are right now? That seems implausible. > > Indeed, it would be virtually impossible to completely melt a 1-mile-thick slab of ice hundreds of miles across in just four days. Cripes, a spring thaw around here won’t even melt through a few feet of snow in just four days. To completely melt the Greenland ice sheet in a few days’ time would require tropical temperatures (during daytime and nighttime) and hurricane winds. No, of course not. 1889 was the last time there was a general melting across the top of the icecap. The icecap itself would take thousands of years to melt-at some points it is over 2 miles thick. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/24 "2012-07-25T19:09:29Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > A planetoid-sized impactor could manage it. :eek: Nah, you’d only need a couple dinosaur-killers to do the job, if my calculations in [this thread on how much energy is needed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=659769) are accurate. Or directing all of the sunlight hitting Earth onto the ice sheet for a couple months (preventing any from reflecting off). ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/25 "2012-07-25T20:23:28Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It’s because of real estate agents. “It’s a motivated seller!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/26 "2012-07-25T20:49:55Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > “It’s a motivated seller!” “…wielding an ax!” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/27 "2012-07-25T20:58:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > “…wielding an ax!” [I’m sure there is a reason for it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIC90Vnc-OI). ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/28 "2012-07-26T16:21:11Z")
Interesting article on this. Apparently, this “unprecidented” melting happens [every 150 years, on average.](http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/07/26/skeptics-put-freeze-on-nasa-hot-air-about-greenland-ice) So, we’re maybe a bit early (it’s been 123 years since 1889), but the idea that this sort of melting has never happened before is simply not true. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/29 "2012-07-26T16:42:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I wonder why Greenland is called Greenland, if it’s always iced over? I thought you had died, Andy Rooney. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336/30 "2012-07-26T16:48:36Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > [A Minion (Bibliophage) speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1965/shouldnt-greenland-be-known-as-iceland-and-vice-versa). Short version: Someone sailing past saw an icy peak on Iceland and named it such. Then Erik the Red got temporarily kicked out of Iceland, explored, saw the southern part of Greenland (which is pretty green) and gave it that name. Greenland was warmer during the [Medieval Warm Period](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period), when Erik the Red founded the settlement there, than it was later during the [Little Ice Age](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age). It makes a difference when exactly you are talking about in history. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-pretty-much-entirely-melted-this-year/629336.md?page=1)