Hill Heat

Many of the consequences of climate change such as warmer winters and shifting rainfall patterns are becoming increasingly apparent here in the United States, but it is in remote reaches of the planet that some of the most rapid and potentially catastrophic changes are occurring. Millions of cubic kilometers of water are locked up in Greenland’s ice sheet, and the data indicate that it is melting at an unexpectedly rapid rate. Substantial melting of Greenland’s glaciers would cause significant sea level rise, affecting the cities and populations that are concentrated near the coast. This briefing will highlight efforts to study changes in the Greenland ice sheet, capture both its beauty and demise and explore the consequences for U.S. citizens as well as people around the globe.

Moderator

• Brendan Kelly, Arctic Natural Sciences Program, National Science Foundation

Panelists

• James Balog, Extreme Ice Survey
• Robert Bindschadler, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Konrad Steffen, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder
• James E. Neumann, Industrial Economics, Incorporated

Limited Space Available

RSVP by Wednesday, September 3 to [email protected] or 202/872-4556. Please provide name, affiliation, phone number, and e-mail address.

09/09/2008 at 12:00PM

This forum was aired on C-SPAN.

Is the Arctic sea ice cover melting faster than expected? If so, what are the contributing factors and why was the rate of melting unanticipated? How much sea ice cover has been lost in terms of extent and volume? What are the implications of both the loss of sea ice and the rate of loss? Is the Greenland ice sheet losing its mass faster than anticipated? If so, what are the contributing factors and why was the rate of loss unanticipated? What are the implications of continued accelerated ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet with respect to Sea Level Rise? Is the Antarctic Ice Sheet getting bigger or smaller and by how much and how fast? Are there parts of the Antarctic ice sheet that are gaining mass and parts that are losing mass? If so, what are the contributing causes? What are the implications of continued ice mass loss in Antarctica, especially the decay of ice shelves?

Speakers:

• Dr. Mark Serreze, Senior Research Scientist, NOAA National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
• Scott B. Luthcke, Geophysicist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory, Greenbelt, MD
• Dr. Konrad Steffen, Professor of Climatology and Remote Sensing and Director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Program Summary

26/11/2007 at 12:00PM

NOAA has recently debuted a new website, Arctic Report Card 2007, summarizing the state of environmental changes in the arctic, linking each section with the detailed reports from NOAA researchers. Their summary:

Collectively, the observations indicate that the overall warming of the Arctic system continued in 2007. There are some elements that are stabilizing or returning to climatological norms. These mixed tendencies illustrate the sensitivity and complexity of the Arctic System.

Last weekend, Sen. Barbara Boxer led a delegation from the Environment and Public Works Committee to Greenland:

• Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
• Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
• Bill Nelson (D-Fl.)
• Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
• Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
• Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
• Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
• Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)
• Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Inhofe sent staffer Mark Morano, a former writer for the rightwing Cybercast News Service. Richard Alley of Penn State University, the lead author on the United States Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was the scientific advisor on the trip. They met with Arkalo Abelsen, Greeland’s environmental minister.

• Barbara Boxer: Urge Your Senators to Support the Sanders/Boxer Global Warming Bill!