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Greenland ice sheet climate, mass balance, and sea level

Greenland climate has undergone substantial perturbation in the past two decades. Numerous records have recently been set... Summer 2010 at Greenland's capital, Nuuk, is the warmest on record since record-keeping began in 1873. Significant declines in sea ice concentration accompany sea surface temperature increases, in all seasons. Greenland's glaciers have lost areas of more than 100 square km per year for the past decade. This presentation focuses on the variety of observations currently available, and regional modeling results for Greenland surface climatology using assimilated climate data. A review of recent findings in dynamic glaciology and geodesy from other investigators is made. Also, a comparison of recent decades with the past century-plus is made. Finally, a model of the future three centuries is posed.