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The bright surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet reflected well over half of the sunlight that fell on it. This reflectiveness helped keep the ice sheet stable. In the past decade, however, satellites have observed a decrease in Greenland’s reflectiveness. This darker surface now absorbs more sunlight, which accelerates melting.  difference between the amount of sunlight Greenland reflected in the summer of 2011 versus the average percent it reflected between 2000 to 2006. Warmer, lower-elevation areas of the ice sheet have darkened more than the colder, higher-altitude interior. Each summer, winter snow retreats from the edge of the ice sheet. Dark pools of melt water form on the surface of the ice, and windblown dust and other particles also collect near the surface, making it even less reflective. Jason Box of Ohio State University, who analyzed the reflectiveness data propose that ice itself undergone change in shape and structure... Read more here :  http:/...

Global warming caused by greenhouse gases delays natural patterns of glaciation suggests a study co-authored by a University of Florida researcher and published online Jan. 8 in Nature Geoscience. The Earth's current warm period that began about 11,000 years ago should give way to another ice age within about 1,500 years, according to accepted astronomical models. However, current levels of carbon dioxide are trapping too much heat in the atmosphere to allow the Earth to cool as it has in its prehistoric past in response to changes in Earth's orbital pattern. data indicate that the next ice age will likely be delayed by tens of thousands of years. Good news ...?                 NO! Ice sheets like those in western Antarctica are already destabilized by global warming, they eventually slough off and become a part of the ocean's volume, it will have a dramatic effect on sea level. Read more here :  http://www.physorg.com/news/...

It is the sea temperature, not  the air temperature that determine how fast Greenland’s ice cap melted at the end of the last ice age. The study, published in the journal Paleoceanography, was conducted by an international team of researchers headed by senior researcher Paul Knutz of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). ”Our study included analyses of the marine temperature in the upper water strata, and they indicate that the temperature during the period of deglaciation was relatively high,” says Knutz. "We can see that the high temperatures start immediately before and continued during periods when a lot of icebergs broke off from glaciers and when a lot of melt water was produced,” he adds. “Therefore we interpret the temperature anomalies as something that resulted in increased melting and a retreat of the ice cap.” Read in more detail.  http://sciencenordic.com/warm-sea-currents-caused-melting-greenland%E2%80%99s-ice

It's indeed a interesting to see how the Earthquake near Japan coast triggered a Tsunami and caused the breakage of an ice shelf in Antarctica...!!!! U can see here the images, animation of this hypothesis. See the link below for detailed analysis http://news.discovery.com/earth/japan-tsunami-broke-antarctic-ice-shelf-110809.html courtesy: Analysis by Kieran Mulvaney @  http://news.discovery.com/earth http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/tsunami-bergs.html