NSIDC Starts Graphing Greenland Ice Melt
For years, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has been sharing daily updates of the area (“extent”) of sea ice coverage in the Arctic ocean, charting current conditions in comparison to the 1979-2000 average for purposes of comparison. Current levels consistently lie two standard deviations below that long-term average, making the NSIDC Arctic sea ice chart a demonstration of significant climate change.
This month, the NSIDC has expanded its offering of visualized data with a new Greenland Today section of its website, featuring the following daily-updated chart of the extent of the 2013 Greenland ice melt, shown in comparison to the 1981-2010 average:
As you can see, the major Greenland ice melt season hasn’t really begun yet. Over the next three months, as variation in the amount of ice melt in Greenland becomes noticeable, this chart should start to tell us something really interesting.