The Fate of Greenland: Lessons from Abrupt Climate Change - Hardcover

"...the book gives a refreshingly clear picture of the science of studying climate change and of the curious, dedicated scientists in action." -- Publishers Weekly "This book teaches us a lot about how to do science and how to investigate difficult problems about the causes of environmental change. It shows that abrupt climate changes really have happened and puts forward likely mechanisms. It tells us a great deal about the wonders of Greenland and how important the country is as a window on to the recent glaciations. And it makes the whole idea of sudden, grave climate shocks arising from greenhouse emissions seem terribly plausible, even if it does not predict any particular shocks. It is not a story about lands' end, but it is a very fine tribute to [Gary] Comer." -- Times Higher Education "Scientists and non-scientists from all walks of life will find this an eloquent and timely read." -- Rick Docksai, The Futurist "[A] gripping rationale for their simple plea -- 'Pay attention to Greenland.'" -- Bud Ward, The Yale Forum

Viewed from above, Greenland offers an endless vista of whiteness interrupted only by scattered ponds of azure-colored melt water. Ninety percent of Greenland is covered by ice; its ice sheet, the largest outside Antarctica, stretches almost 1,000 miles from north to south and 600 miles from east to west. But this stark view of ice and snow is changing -- and changing rapidly. Greenland's ice sheet is melting; the dazzling, photogenic display of icebergs breaking off Greenland's rapidly melting glaciers has become a tourist attraction. The Fate of Greenland documents Greenland's warming with dramatic color photographs and investigates episodes in Greenland's climate history for clues about what happens when climate change is abrupt rather than gradual. Greenland's climate past and present could presage our climate future. Abrupt climate change would be cataclysmic: the melting of Greenland's ice shelf would cause sea levels to rise twenty-four feet worldwide; lower Manhattan would be underwater and Florida's coastline would recede to Orlando. The planet appears to be in a period of acute climate instability, exacerbated by carbon dioxide we pour into the atmosphere. As this book makes clear, it is in all of our interests to pay attention to Greenland.