Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 16 august 2019
NASA scientists fly over Greenland to track melting ice

By SETH BORENSTEIN been quite as comforting.
Associated Press If the water is playing a
ABOARD A NASA RESEARCH much bigger role than sci-
PLANE OVER GREENLAND entists thought, it could
(AP) — The fields of rip- mean seas will be rising
pling ice 500 feet below faster and higher than ex-
the NASA plane give way pected. That's because
to the blue-green of wa- 90% of the heat energy
ter dotted with irregular from climate change goes
chunks of bleached-white into the oceans, Willis said.
ice, some the size of battle- Warm water provides "a
ships, some as tall as 15-sto- bigger bang for the buck"
ry buildings. than air when it comes to
Like nearly every other melting ice, Willis said.
glacier on Greenland, the Just how crucial seawater
massive Kangerlussuaq is is to melting was illustrated,
melting. In fact, the giant somewhat paradoxically,
frozen island has seen one by the Jakobshavn glacier,
of its biggest melts on re- the fast-shrinking glacier on
cord this year. NASA scien- Greenland's more popu-
tist Josh Willis is now closely lated west coast. In recent
studying the phenomenon years, it suddenly started
in hopes of figuring out pre- to grow a bit, probably
cisely how global warming In this photo taken on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, icebergs are photographed from the window because of a cooling of
is eating away at Green- of an airplane carrying NASA Scientists as they fly on a mission to track melting ice in eastern waters as a result of a tem-
land's ice. Greenland. porary shift in weather and
Specifically, he wants to Associated Press water-current patterns, Wil-
know whether the melting lis said.
is being caused more by day this month, it lost a re- When University of Geor- modem" — he and Willis In general, oceans warm
warm air or warm seawa- cord 13.7 billion tons (12.5 gia ice scientist Tom Mote, high-five. up much more slowly than
ter. The answer could be billion metric tons) by one who isn't part of this project, Meanwhile, pilots Andy Fer- the air, yet they stay warm-
crucial to Earth's future. estimate. started studying Green- guson and Don Watrous er longer. The water weak-
Water brings more heat "It's a little scary," Willis said land's glaciers in the early bank the plane toward ens glaciers and causes
to something frozen faster as looked down on an 1990s, researchers really the blue-green spots, look- icebergs to break loose.
than air does, as anyone area filled with more water didn't think the water was a ing for the next target and Those icebergs eventually
who has ever defrosted than ice. "We're definitely big factor. pointing out stunning giant melt, adding to the seas.
a steak under the faucet watching the ice sheet dis- Willis' project — called icebergs and signs of gla- "Some of them are as big
knows. appear in front of us." Oceans Melting Green- cial retreat over the radio. as a city," Willis said.
If Willis' theory that much Climate change is eat- land, or OMG — is showing As the data is radioed back A 2019 study by Danish cli-
of the damage is from the ing away at Greenland's that it is. Now the question from one $2,000 probe now mate scientist Ruth Mot-
water turns out to be cor- glaciers in two ways. The is how much and how fast. deep in the water near tram looked at 28 glaciers
rect, he said, "there's a lot most obvious way is from What Willis is measuring Kangerlussuaq in eastern in Greenland with long-
higher potential for Green- the warm air above, which is the water 660 feet (200 Greenland, it initially looks term data. Nearly all are
land to melt more quickly has been brutal this sum- meters) or more below the like the temperature hasn't melting, with only one or
than we thought." And that mer, with a European heat surface, which is warmer changed much over the two that could be consid-
means seas rising faster wave in July working like a and saltier than the stuff last year or two, which ered somewhat stable.
and coastal communities hair dryer on the ice. The that touches the air. It's this could be good news. But "One glacier retreating
being inundated more. other way is from warm, deep water that does the that's just one data point. looks like carelessness, but
Greenland contains salty water, some of it major damage. Each year for the past four 28 retreating is the sign of
enough ice to make world from North America's Gulf To measure this, NASA is years, NASA has been look- something going on," Mot-
sea levels rise by 20 feet if it Stream, nibbling at coastal spending five years criss- ing at all of Greenland, and tram told The Associated
were all to melt. In a single glaciers from below. crossing the island in a the numbers overall haven't Press.q
tricked-out 77-year-old
DC-3 built for World War II.
Willis, project manager Ian
McCubbin and mechanic
Rich Gill drop long, cylin-
drical probes through a
special tube in the floor of
the plane, watching as the
sensors parachute down
and then dive into the chilly
water.
McCubbin then waits for a
tone on his computer that
tells him the probe is under-
water and measuring tem-
perature and salinity. When
In this photo taken on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, NASA project all of the flight's five probes In this photo taken on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, NASA scientist
manager Ian McCubbin looks out of the window of a plane as start signaling — with a Josh Willis prepares to release a probe from a plane as they fly
they fly on a mission to track melting ice in eastern Greenland. sound McCubbin likens to above the Kangerlussuaq Glacier in eastern Greenland.
Associated Press "a fax machine or an AOL Associated Press