NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT ¨C The announcement that 11 billion tons dropped off the Greenland ice sheet in one day turned out to be a made-for-television example of the effects of climate change. Dramatic videos of water pouring off the glaciers went viral. But apart from the occasional spectacular image, it¡¯s hard to focus the attention of the news media on the Greenland ice sheet. And that¡¯s too bad.
Because it¡¯s worse than you thought.
Consider: According to NASA¡¯s National Snow & Ice Data Center, between June 11 and June 20 of this year, the Greenland ice sheet lost an estimated 80 billion tons of ice. That¡¯s an average of 8 billion tons every 24 hours for 10 days, a record warming event. But there was hardly a whisper of news coverage, perhaps because there weren¡¯t any exciting videos.
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