Northern Fringes of Ice Sheet Experienced Extreme Melting

The northern fringes of Greenland's ice sheet experienced much higher the normal melting during 2008, according to NASA researchers.

The image below shows the number of days when melting occurred on the ice sheet compared to the average number of melt days (anomaly) between 1979 and 2007. The blues indicate less melt days compared to normal in 2008, while the reds indicate a higher number of melt days compared to normal.

Other highlights from the research..........

--Many locations in northern Greenland experienced a record number of melt days.

--Average temperatures across northern Greenland were as much as 3 degrees C above average between June and August of 2008.

--Nearby ground based observations were unusually high and new records were set at many stations.

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The above image was made with data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) on board the F13 satellite of the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP).
Here is the link to the Earth Observatory story.