The Greenland Ice Cap Is Melting: One Photo Shows How ... by gimleteye

I took this photo a few days ago on top of the Greenland ice cap, from a helicopter 50 miles inland from Ilulissat, a fishing village on the west coast. The photo captures global warming in two visible phenomena. First; the lake atop the ice cap. It shouldn't be here. Abnormally high temperatures are creating lakes like this and rivers because the ice is melting everywhere, contributing to the massive release of cold fresh water into the North Atlantic and sea level rise. The second is the visibly darkened surface of the ice. Much of the ice cap looks exactly like this: instead of white, which would reflect light back into the atmosphere, a darkened ice cap absorbs heat. The darkened surface of the ice in Greenland is largely due to carbon particles caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, not just oil and coal but also from the ferocious fires occurring throughout the world's arboreal forests as a result of global warming. "Black carbon is a bigger cause of the melting of the polar ice cap in the Arctic than carbon dioxide due to its effect on the albedo." In other words, there is a feedback loop in place that assures the continued warming and accelerated melting of the Greenland ice cap. A decade ago, conservatives ridiculed Al Gore for pointing to these phenomena, but everything Gore said is not only true but happening much faster than even climate scientists predicted. Still, there is one political party in the United States that is defined by climate change denial. Just look at this photo. Only voters can change the outcome of politicians who refuse to see.