Trouble in Greenland
b'
Has the loss from Greenland\\u2019s vast ice sheet reached a tipping point? According to glaciologist Michalea King, the rate at which its ice flows into the sea stepped up about 15 years ago. The process of glacial retreat is outpacing the accumulation snow and ice in Greenland\\u2019s interior and the loss of Greenland\\u2019s ice to the Ocean is set to continue for many years to come.
An international study of past climate changes during the last ice age reveals how fast changes to weather patterns and climate states can reverberate around the world. During the last ice age, when temperatures rose suddenly in Greenland a series of changes to the climate in Europe and the monsoons in Asia and South America occurred almost simultaneously - within decades of each other. Climate scientists Eric Wolff and Ellen Corrick have discovered this through studies of stalagmites from caves around the world. It\\u2019s a demonstration of how rapidly and dramatically the Earth\\u2019s atmospheric system can change when it\\u2019s perturbed.
Was the hottest temperature ever on Earth recorded last weekend? A weather station in Death Valley in California recorded a temperature of 54.4 degrees C. Roland Pease discusses the controversy with extreme weather historian Christopher Burt.
Andrea Dupree of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reveals the latest on the giant star Betelgeuse which to everyone\\u2019s amazement dimmed dramatically at the beginning of the year. At the time some people wondered whether it was about to explode as a supernova but Andrea\\u2019s new findings suggest an event at the star which is almost as extraordinary.
(Image: Masses of ice break off from the edge of a glacier. Credit: Press Association)
Presenter: Roland Pease\\nProducer: Andrew Luck-Baker
'