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Once-Shrinking Greenland Glacier Is Now Growing, NASA Study Shows (nbcnews.com) 289

kenh shares a report from NBC News: A major Greenland glacier that was one of the fastest shrinking ice and snow masses on Earth is growing again, a new NASA study finds. The Jakobshavn (YA-cob-shawv-en) glacier around 2012 was retreating about 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) and thinning nearly 130 feet (almost 40 meters) annually. But it started growing again at about the same rate in the past two years, according to a study in Monday's Nature Geoscience. Study authors and outside scientists think this is temporary.

A natural cyclical cooling of North Atlantic waters likely caused the glacier to reverse course, said study lead author Ala Khazendar, a NASA glaciologist on the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project. Khazendar and colleagues say this coincides with a flip of the North Atlantic Oscillation -- a natural and temporary cooling and warming of parts of the ocean that is like a distant cousin to El Nino in the Pacific. The water in Disko Bay, where Jakobshavn hits the ocean, is about 3.6 degrees cooler than a few years ago, study authors said. While this is "good news" on a temporary basis, this is bad news on the long term because it tells scientists that ocean temperature is a bigger player in glacier retreats and advances than previously thought, said NASA climate scientist Josh Willis, a study co-author. Over the decades the water has been and will be warming from man-made climate change, he said, noting that about 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases goes into the oceans.

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Once-Shrinking Greenland Glacier Is Now Growing, NASA Study Shows

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  • by pahles ( 701275 ) on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @03:13AM (#58334640)
    (YA-cobs-HA-ven)
  • End of March (Score:2, Interesting)

    Doesn't that sound normal that the glacier grows from Sept to March?
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      While growing, how far did it reach? The maximum extent (alternatively, the you could measure the minimum extent, or an average, as long as you're being consistent) has been less than the previous year's by 3km. In last 2 years the maximum extent has grown instead of shrunk, which is a significant change.

  • by 3seas ( 184403 ) on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @07:01AM (#58335056) Homepage Journal

    Chemtrails work.

  • "Study authors and outside scientists think this is temporary." Could you put a timescale on that? After all, many scientists believe that the Earth is temporary.

  • Glaciers growing again?

    Ocean cooler than predicted by a lot?

    How can we possibly spin this news as bad... oh I've got it, claim that obviously that since the water temperature also lowered it must mean that water temperature and glacial retreat are strongly linked!

    What's that you say the water would have to get warm again to cause a problem? Shh!!

    Important life lesson for people: If someone claims everything is bad, they are often wrong about everything.

    • No, the ocean there is cooler, because of how the currents cyclically change how they flow. The ocean overall is still getting warmer every year. (See also, it getting colder in winter is not proof the earth isn't getting warmer.)

      I cannot tell if you're arguing in bad faith or lack the ability to comprehend what you're reading. Care to clarify?

    • Glaciers growing again?

      No, the article is about one glacier. Plenty of other glaciers are still shrinking. Earth is still getting warmer, but at the same time, heat moves around, so some places can get extra warm, while others get cooler.

  • Well, this is certainly news.

  • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @09:56AM (#58335854) Homepage Journal

    The Jakobshavn glacier around 2012 was retreating about 1.8 miles and thinning nearly 130 feet annually. But it started growing again at about the same rate in the past two years,

    About the same rate? OK, so what WAS the rate of replenishment? TFA never bothers to say. Why is our time being wasted with this zero-information tripe?

    • by guruevi ( 827432 )

      At the same rate, means 1.8 miles and thickening 130 feet annually.

      • it started growing again at about the same rate in the past two years,

        About the same rate?

        At the same rate, means 1.8 miles and thickening 130 feet annually.

        Yes, that's what "at the same rate" would mean. However, I didn't ask that, because the article didn't say that. I asked what "about the same rate" means, because that's what the article said. Your comment has exactly as much useful information as the article: none.

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