Data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) reveals that the Total Snow Mass for the Northern Hemisphere has been consistently above the 30 year average for the majority of the season, and is now actually increasing its rate of growth.
The Greenland ice sheet looks set to continue that trend in 2020.
Crucial to the survival of a glacier is its surface mass balance (SMB)–the difference between accumulation and ablation (sublimation and melting). Changes in mass balance control a glacier’s long-term behavior, and are its most sensitive climate indicators (wikipedia.org).
On March 02, 2020 the world’s largest island added a healthy 5 gigatons to its ice sheet.
Since September, 2019 –the official start of the season– SMB spikes above the 2/2.5 gigaton daily average have been a regular occurrence. In mid-Nov, the sheet gained a whopping 10 Gt in a single day; then hot on the heels of that, during just the first two days of Dec, a 14 Gt gain was registered; and then in early Feb, another 7 Gt gain was observed.
Time, perhaps, to invest in warm coats and snow tires.
This would not apply to the Northeastern United States this year. ;)
ReplyDeleteClimate is what you worry about, weather is what you get.
ReplyDeleteWe've had another warm winter in central Florida without even getting frost, let alone freezes. The old farmer's saying was that once it's past the February full moon, the chance of a freeze is zero.
ReplyDeleteAs Mark says, it doesn't seem to apply to the NE US, and I regularly watch the webcams at Glacier National Park in Montana. Lake McDonald hasn't frozen over this year. That makes it seem like the entire US is warmer this winter.
I wonder where all this snow is, because if one large area is below average, something must be well above average.
I flew from NY to Oregon on Tues, we went across the upper tier of states. A one point the flight tracker showed we were over Montana (it's a big state!) and there was nothing but brown hills below. There had been visible snow in MN & ND but here it was brown. A little farther west in Montana I found snow again.
DeleteThat snowless part of Montana really surprised me.
We only have ten years left.
ReplyDeleteBecause "global warming".
ReplyDeleteI still want to see the part where the guys in furry underwear used mastadon fat torches to melt the glaciers.
ReplyDelete