Nothing Left But Puddles?

You may have caught this story about extensive melting on the Greenland ice sheet this summer due to a dome of warm air over virtually all of the landmass. Some surface melting occurs every year, but the extent of July's melting is what is unusual, apparently the last such event was 150 years ago.

But what I find most interesting was hearing this story presented by two news organizations, ABC and NPR, where it was quite clear that the news anchors thought scientists were reporting that the ENTIRE ice sheet had melted during the last two or three weeks. And in one case the scientist being interviewed seemed to pass up the opportunity to set the record straight. The Greenland ice sheet averages 2 km thick for crying out loud! So how many viewers/listeners out there believe the entire continental ice sheet melted in two weeks? I bet more than a few.

You can denigrate the climate deniers if you want, but this is the kind of misinformation that gets ingrained into the minds of the public, then lawmakers who react and want to do something rash.