“NASA claims Greenland ice sheet has rapidly declined in the last several years due to surface melting and iceberg calving,” says reader Jimmy Walter. “Do you have a refutation for this?”

Well, yes, I certainly do, because that’s old news. Here’s an article that I posted at the end of 2018.

Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass budget far, far higher than average

As you can see from the graph below, the Greenland Ice Sheet did indeed decline back in 2011-2012 (red line). But it made a roaring comeback in 2016-2017, growing much more than the mean (dark gray line). In fact, it was its sixth highest growth on record.

It then grew more than the mean yet again in 2017-2018.

That was last year. Now let’s see what is going on today.

The blue line on the 2019-2020 graph (below) shows comparative ice growth during this latest season, which began in September 2019. As you can see, it has risen above the mean at some points and below the mean at others. Not exactly a fearsome sight.

Graphs from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), Polar Portal: http://polarportal.dk/fileadmin/polarportal/surface/SMB_curves_LA_EN_20200109.png

Here are a few articles that I’ve posted about this in the past year. You can click on the links to view each entire article.

Greenland glacier thickening

5 Aug 2019 – Water temperatures in the vicinity of the Jakobshavn Glacier are now colder than they have been since the mid-1980s. Coldest temperature ever recorded in Greenland

4 Jan 2020 – Greenland just set a new all-time record low temperature. Not only for January 2, not only for the entire month of January, not only at Summit Station, but for anywhere across the island, and for any month of the year. NASA – Largest glacier in Greenland is growing for third year in a row

18 Jun 2019 – The height of Jakobshavn glacier in western Greenland has increased by as much as 30 meters (98 feet) per year in some areas. That’s about the height of a 10-story building … per year! Here’s the article about Greenland ice loss that Jimmy is referring to:

Greenland Ice Loss 2002-2016 : GRACE-FO

https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/33/greenland-ice-loss-2002-2016/