Sure, Greenland is getting greener, but who said so and by how much?

The following letter was sent by a number of glaciologists to the Editor of the Times Atlas. The bottom line is, yes, Greenland is affected by climate change but not as dramatic as shown in the latest edition of The Times Comprehensive Atlas, a respected authority for world class cartography since 1895.

Dear Sir,

A media release accompanying the publication of the 13th edition of The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World states that the Atlas is ‘turning Greenland ‘green’’. We are extremely puzzled by this statement and the claim that ‘For the first time, the new edition of The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World has had to erase 15% of Greenland’s once permanent ice cover – turning an area the size of the United Kingdom and Ireland ‘green’ and ice-free’. We write to point out that a 15% decrease in permanent ice cover since the publication of the previous atlas 12 years is both incorrect and misleading.

Recent satellite images of Greenland make it clear that there are in fact still numerous glaciers and permanent ice cover where the new Times Atlas shows ice-free conditions and the emergence of new lands. Furthermore, the low-lying fringe of the main ice sheet appears to be shown as land, not ice.

A sizable portion of the area mapped as ice-free in the Atlas is clearly still ice-covered. We do not know why this error has occurred, but it is regrettable that the claimed drastic reduction in the extent of ice in Greenland has created headline news around the world. There is to our knowledge no support for this claim in the published scientific literature.

We do not disagree with the statement that climate is changing and that the Greenland Ice Sheet is affected by this. It is, however, crucial to report climate change and its impact accurately and to back bold statements with concrete and correct evidence. The volume of ice contained in the Greenland Ice Sheet is approximately 2.9 million cubic kilometers and the current rate whereby ice is lost is roughly 200 cubic kilometers per year. This is on the order of 0.1% by volume over 12 years. Numerous glaciers have retreated over the last decade, capturing the attention of scientists, policymakers and the general public. Because of this retreat, many glaciers are now flowing faster and terrain previously ice-covered is emerging along the coast - but not at the rate suggested in The Times media release.



Yours faithfully,

Dr. Poul Christoffersen

Prof. Julian Dowdeswell (Director)

Mr. Toby Benham

Prof. Elizabeth M Morris

Dr. Ruth Mugford

Dr. Steven Palmer

Dr. Ian Willis

(Scott Polar Research Institute)

Next page: Map of Greenland from the new Times Atlas vs. satellite imagery from 2011.

Updates:

19-9-2011:

[1] The BBC reported that the Times Atlas is wrong.

[2] The map makers at The Times Atlas now have a second problem with the glaciology community, read also the update from Ted Scambos, lead scientist for NSIDC's science team in Boulder, Colorado: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/09/atlas-shrugged-outraged-glaciologists.html?rss=1

[3] Coverage in the Guardian which presently misses Ted Scambos' remarks under [2].

[4] How difficult is it to defuse a viral error message? Look at this website, I left a comment, but the writer does not change or update the contents.

[5] The New Scientist still shows the Greenland is getting greener verse. But a new article in the New Scientist is in my opinion correct.

[6] Daily Mail: A greener Greenland? Times Atlas 'error' overstates global warming, read more here.

Update 21-9-2011

[7] Also planetsave.com now updated their coverage on the accelerated global warming signal on Greenland seen in the latest edition of the Times Atlas.

Update 22-9-2011

The Times Atlas announced that they will generate an insert for the 13th editing of the atlas. This is what you find in [8]:

Clarification on The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World - 13th Edition

Since the publication of the Times Comprehensive Atlas 13th edition on 15th September 2011, controversy has raged about the depiction of Greenland in the Atlas. The editorial team at Collins Geo have apologised for an incorrect claim in the media material accompanying the launch. Now there has been further debate about the depiction of the ice itself.

On reflection and in discussion with the scientific community, the current map does not make the explanation of this topic as clear as it should be. We are now urgently reviewing the depiction of ice in the Atlas against all the current research and data available, and will work with the scientific community to produce a map of Greenland which reflects all the latest data. We will then create an insert for the current atlas showing this map and also give an explanation of the situation and how we have mapped it. Any material generated as a result of this activity will also be made available online and incorporated into the Atlas.
The one thing that is very apparent is that there is no clarity in the scientific and cartographic community on this issue but we have been consulting widely over the last week with experts in the field and have received a good response and support with new sources and data.

This most up-to-date information from all the latest sources would be a positive outcome. If the controversy about the Times Atlas encourages scientists to come together and clarify some of the confusion about our climate and how it is changing, the outcome will help the general public, and indeed all of us, better understand this complex issue.