{"id":191674,"date":"2022-03-15T11:30:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T10:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=191674"},"modified":"2022-03-15T11:30:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T10:30:05","slug":"greenland-gained-a-record-breaking-10-gigatons-of-snow-and-ice-yesterday-as-northern-hemisphere-total-snow-mass-increases-just-days-away-from-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=191674","title":{"rendered":"Greenland Gained a Record-Breaking 10 Gigatons of Snow and Ice Yesterday, As Northern Hemisphere Total Snow Mass Increases Just Days Away from Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Greenland<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Greenland Gained a Record-Breaking 10 Gigatons of Snow a<\/mark><\/em>nd Ice Yesterday<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Data from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) shows that Greenland ice melt slowed significantly during the past decade, and that the trend has now swung <\/em>to one of growth \u2014 media tizzies of \u2018mass ice loss\u2019 are wildly unfounded.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greenland ice sheet has been faring increasingly well in recent years. Since 2016, a sharp uptick in the Surface Mass Balance (SMB) \u2013a calculation used to determine the \u2018health\u2019 of a glacier\u2013 has been detected, and daily\/monthly records have routinely been broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades of reliable satellite measurements have allowed trends to be detected, and while it is true that the world\u2019s largest island lost mass from around 1995 to 2012, that trend of loss has now reversed, and like the gradual turning of a vast ship, from 2010 to 2015 Greenland\u2019s SMB changed course and has been on an upward trajectory ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is clearly visible on the below chart which plots the total mass balance since 1985:
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[Die kalte Sonne]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Most recently, 2021\/2022 is\u00a0continuing\u00a0<\/em>that trend of growth, and impressive totals been posted across the Greenland ice sheet all season. None more so, however, than yesterday\u2019s\u00a010 Gigatons<\/mark><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0gain which, it turns out, is a new record for the time of year:
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10 Gts gain, March 14, 2022 [DMI<\/a>].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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10 Gts gain, March 14, 2022 [DMI<\/a>].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


More telling than just one data point, however, is the fact that the entire season\u2019s SMB has now nudged above the 1981-2010 mean (shown below), meaning Greenland is on course to log yet another<\/em> above average season\u2013something that\u2019s become a routine occurrence since 2016.
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Above average SMB season [DMI<\/a>].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n



To that point: Starting in 2016-2017, Greenland has consistently posted above average SMB gains (excluding the 2018-2019 season)<\/em>. The year 2016 also happens to coincide with the peak of global average temperature record. Since then, Earth\u2019s temperature, according to the 15x NASA\/NOAA AMSU satellites that measure every square inch of the lower troposphere (where us humans reside), has been falling and is now down some 0.71C:
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Earth’s Average Temperature Drops To 30-Year Baseline, Down 0.71C Since 2016 Peak<\/a><\/blockquote>