Probing Question: How fast are the polar ice sheets melting?
Thursday, April 1, 2010 - 15:14
in Earth & Climate
The massive ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica are shrinking. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, summer melt on the Greenland ice increased by 30 percent from 1979 to 2006. Though the situation in Antarctica is less clear, scientists are also seeing loss of mass there, particularly in the fragile West Antarctic Ice Sheet.