The disappearing Arctic ice

Obama administration members are participating in international climate talks in Greenland in an effort to focus attention on polar melting even as new data suggest that the rate of melting is much higher than anticipated.

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May 12, 2011

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Danish counterpart Lene Espersen enjoy a boat trip on Godhaab's Inlet in Nuuk, Greenland. The two are among top foreign ministers gathered for a meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council.<br><br>Getty Images</gray>

May 12, 2011

A boat carry Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tours a fjord near Nuuk, Greenland, site of the Arctic Council meeting.

Joby Warrick / The Washington Post

Aug. 17, 2005

A boat makes its way through the icebergs in Disko Bay, Greenland. Scientists say the vast icy landscape is thinning, and many blame global warming. They worry about the implications for the life of Greenlanders, from the impact on fishing stocks to the ability of hunters' dogsleds to cross ice-covered fjords and inlets.

John McConnico / AP

April 22, 2005

In this aerial photo, Hollywood stars, including Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal, join Canadian Inuits on an ice floe on the Arctic frontier of Iqaluit, Nunavut, to form the image of an Inuit drum dancer for a traditional spring dance on Earth Day, seeking to highlight the effect of global warming on northern Canadians. From the air, photographers were able to see the humans spell out the words: "Arctic Warning: Listen."

David Crane / Los Angeles Daily News via AP

May 7, 2009

Smoke bellows from the chimneys of Poland's Belchatow Power Station, Europe's biggest coal-fired power plant and the European Union's largest polluter. Although the climate change debate has traditionally focused on the role of carbon dioxide emissions, the Obama administration hopes at the Greenland conference to explore alternative ways to slow Arctic warming that do not require U.N.-brokered treaties or complex cap-and-trade scenarios, such as curbing "black carbon," or soot from inefficient combustion. Nations at the conference are likely to be encouraged to act unilaterally on such measures.

Peter Andrews / Reuters

Aug, 16, 2005

An iceberg melts in Kulusuk, Greenland, near the Arctic Circle. Greenland is confronting developmental pressures by companies racing to claim natural resources exposed by the retreating ice.

John McConnico / AP

Aug. 17, 2005

Runoff from melting glaciers is shrinking Greenland's ice cap. The retreating of the ice exposes more land and water, which absorb more solar radiation, creating a cycle of further warming.

John McConnico / AP

July 19, 2007

An iceberg melts off the coast of Ammassalik, Greenland. New data show that short-lived pollutants account for up to 40 percent of the Arctic’s warming, spurring a new push to control emissions other than carbon dioxide, such as the "black carbon" arising from natural gas flaring, wood stoves and the controlled burning of agricultural waste.

JOHN MCCONNICO / AP

Aug. 16, 2005

An iceberg melts at dusk in Kulusuk Bay in eastern Greenland. One new study predicts that unexpectedly fast rates of melting could push global sea levels as much as five feet higher by the end of the century.

John McConnico / AP

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