ICE AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Sub-titled 'An Epic Journey Into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future', this is a riveting and urgent account of the explorers and scientists who are racing to understand the rapidly melting ice sheet in Greenland, a dramatic harbinger of climate change. Greenland is a remote, mysterious island five times the size of California but with a population of just 56,000. The ice sheet that covers it is 700 miles wide and 1,500 miles long, composed of nearly three quadrillion tons of ice. Locked within this vast and frozen white desert are some of the most profound secrets about our planet and its future and more urgently it is telling us where we are headed. Jon Gertner explains how Greenland has evolved into one of the Earth's last frontiers to being the largest scientific laboratory and describes gruelling expeditions that took as long as a year and often ended in frost-bitten tragedy. He describes the lonely encampments out on the ice and when the drilling began - one mile, two miles down - the aim to pull up ice cores that could reveal the deepest mysteries of the Earth's past. Today scientists from all over the world are deploying every technical tool available to measure the ice melts and run offs to see which threaten to affect hundreds of millions of people who live in coastal areas. It will also have drastic effects on ocean currents, weather systems, economies and migration patterns. His book covers Explorations (1888-1931) and Investigations (1949-2018). A deeply intelligent study with extensive notes, photos and maps. 420pp.