Greenland's Ice Loss Now Comes from Surface

a reply to: Grimpachi

Thanks for the quote and info.
Though Im not sure they are totally correct.

The quote
"The only area that is not covered in ice is only clear because the air is so dry that ice cannot form"

That doesn't make sense.
They apparently, are not aware that the Antarctica is the the driest continent on Earth, And is covered in Ice.
Ice that covers dry land, with really dry air.
The Antarctica is not like the North Pole, which is just an ice pack. Antarctic is a land continent.

a reply to: gort51

It is correct as in the case of the Antarctic Desert. Yes it is called a desert because arid conditions. The atmosphere can become so cold that precipitation will not fall it gets only about 8 inches worth a year but that is mostly along the coastal areas.

I know that begs the question of how did so much ice get there with only about 8 inches a year but then you multiply that by millions and millions of years and it starts building up. Then consider there have been periods in earth's history the temperatures were much warmer which means it may have been less arid conditions and more precipitation furthermore Antarctica wasn't alway where it is today. At one point it was part of the supercontinent Pangea and through tectonic plate movements the continent slowly slid to where it is today allowing plenty of time for Ice pack to form covering the continent.

So with Greenland that area is cold enough to form ice but it is so cold that moisture cannot remain in the air (arid) which means little to none will fall there.