Green Options

Here are three brief extracts from the following NASA release:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/greenland_recordhigh.html 

1) “…In fact, the amount of snow that has melted this year [2007] over Greenland could cover the surface size of the U.S. more than twice…”  [Repeat; in FACT….cover the U.S. more than twice]

2)  “…Marco Tedesco, a research scientist at the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, cooperatively managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, used satellite data to…” 

3)“…His [...]

Since the 80’s “Passive microwave satellite detection of wet ice sheet surfaces, has enabled the mapping of their surface melting. In Sept 2005, a release from CIRES (NOAA/Colorado U’ supported) predicted that 2005 through to end of “summer” (Octoberish), would show the highest melt level since the previous record year of 2002. However, that went all quiet when it turned out 2002 remained tops, with 1987, 1991, and 1998 on a level par, depending on source, see below: 

Link 1:  http://cires.colorado.edu/science/groups/steffen/greenland/melt2005/

More recently [...]

Here is some good news about Greenland, and the “North West Passage” 

For instance, the respected journal; Geophysical Research Letters, 13 June 2006, has published this  paper by Chylek et al: 

ABSTRACT:
We provide an analysis of Greenland temperature records to compare the current (1995-2005) warming period with the previous (1920-1930)
Greenland warming. We find that the current Greenland warming is not unprecedented in recent Greenland history. Temperature increases in the two warming periods are of a similar magnitude, however, the rate of warming [...]

I remember a good while ago that the “outspoken” James Hansen, of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies was reputed to have spieled words to the effect that it is no longer necessary to exaggerate on global warming, and it was time to be more rational and science-based.