Snow in Greenland is melting — in winter

This Greenland cumulative melt days map shows the total number of days that surface melting has occurred for the year to date. (Image: National Snow and Ice Data Center Greenland Ice Sheet Today) Update: I've been in touch with Ted Scambos of NSIDC. He corrected me on one fact that I misunderstood, and he added some new information about the significance of this event. See below. (I've also changed the headline.) As the map above shows, some portions of Greenland's ice sheet have experienced melting at the surface for more than 30 days since the first of the year. And at least through the end of last week, the melting, as revealed by satellite data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, had been continuing. It's not just wet snow. What's being observed is wet snow. Even so, it is "real melting," Ted Scambos, Senior Research Scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data, told me in an email message on Sunday afternoon. "Air temperatures along the southeastern coast for the period Feb 10 - 15 are running 2 to 6 C above normal. Nuuk, the capital, on the very southern west coast, is currently just a couple of degrees below freezing." Here is additional clarification I received from Scambos this morning: