When the Ice Is Gone
What a Greenland Ice Core Reveals About Earth's Tumultuous History and Perilous Future
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In 2018, lumps of frozen soil, collected from the bottom of the world's first deep ice core and lost for decades, reappeared in Denmark. When geologist Paul Bierman and his team first melted a piece of this unique material, they were shocked to find perfectly preserved leaves, twigs, and moss. That observation led them to a startling discovery: Greenland's ice sheet had melted naturally before, about 400,000 years ago. The remote island's ice was far more fragile than scientists had realized--unstable even without human interference. In When the Ice Is Gone, Bierman traces the story of this extraordinary finding, revealing how it radically changes our understanding of the Earth and its climate. A longtime researcher in Greenland, he begins with a brief history of the island, both human and geological, explaining how over the last century scientists have learned to read the historical record in ice, deciphering when volcanoes exploded and humans started driving cars fueled by leaded gasoline. For the origins of ice coring, Bierman brings us to Camp Century, a U.S. military base built inside Greenland's ice sheet, where engineers first drilled through mile-thick ice and into the frozen soil beneath. Decades later, a few feet of that long-frozen earth would reveal its secrets--ancient warmth and melted ice. Changes in Greenland reverberate around the world, with ice melting high in the arctic affecting people everywhere. Bierman explores how losing Greenland's ice will catalyze devastating events if we don't change course and address climate change now.
About this Author
Paul Bierman, environmental science professor at the University of Vermont, develops methods to date ice and rocks. He has published in Science and Nature, with the findings covered by CNN, USA Today, and the Weather Channel. He lives in Burlington, Vermont.
Reviews
"A remarkable scientific detective story, told with panache--and carrying a very real and dangerous sting. Read it, and then do something about it."
"We are Scrooge and Bierman is Marley's ghost with a fascinating tale, all too true, of a great ice sheet that holds our future."
"Paul Bierman paints a vivid portrait not only of the human characters involved with exploration of the Greenland ice cap but also of the personality of the ice itself. Both the humans and the ice are more idiosyncratic--and more sensitive--than one might expect. When the Ice Is Gone is a cautionary story about hubris in the Anthropocene."
"In his gripping new book, When the Ice Is Gone, paleoclimate expert Paul Bierman provides a firsthand account--through the lens of science and history, of how human-caused warming is rapidly melting the massive Greenland ice sheet and the dire consequences this poses for us and our planet. Read this book to be informed about the problem and inspired to make a difference."
"When the Ice is Gone tells the story of the scientists who pieced together the history of the Greenland ice sheet and, as a result, can now peer into its future. Paul Bierman, is himself one of these scientists, and he brings to his subject a deep affection and a wealth of experience. The result is at once fascinating, sobering, and eye-opening."
"A potent examination of how melting glaciers and rising ocean levels are already at crisis levels...Bierman has written not another global warming polemic but rather a compelling introduction to Greenland, glaciers, and how scientists drill down through ice to reveal the past...Frightening yet excellent popular science."
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