Greenland and Siberia see rapid changes: Arctic warming spurs record melting

Published online 17 December 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1314

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Arctic warming spurs record melting

Greenland and Siberia see rapid changes

by Rich Monastersky

Record melting in northern Greenland and the widespread release of methane gas from formerly frozen deposits off the Siberian coast suggest that major changes are sweeping the Arctic, researchers say.

The recent observations, reported on 16 December at the autumn meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, California, have surprised scientists who — although used to Arctic changes — did not expect to see them so dramatically over the past year.

Link to rest of article in Nature: http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081217/full/news.2008.1314.html