Greenland glacier melt documented through archival photos and records

Nature : Archival photographs, sketches, and temperature measurements are being used by researchers to better understand the effects of climate change on Greenland’s ice sheet and glaciers. Conducting historical glacier research, Anders Bjørk at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen is a real-life Indiana Jones. Not only does he sift through old photographs, maps, and other documents in castles and museums, but he has also embarked on numerous epic sea voyages. He and his colleagues are now comparing the historic weather data with modern satellite data to see how Greenland’s glaciers have changed over the past 80 years. Among what they have learned so far is that glaciers are more sensitive to periods of warming and cooling than previously thought and that not all glaciers respond to warming in the same way.