When the Ice Is Gone: What a Greenland Ice Core Reveals about Earth's Tumultuous History and Perilous Future

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. 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. For the origins of ice coring, Bierman brings us to Camp Century, a US 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 the Author :
Paul Bierman is professor of environmental science at the University of Vermont, where he develops methods to understand ice and date rocks. He has published in Science and Nature, and his findings have been covered by CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, and the Weather Channel, among others. He lives in Burlington, Vermont. David Marantz is an actor living in New York City. He has narrated eighty-five-plus titles since his first in 2011. He won an AudioFile Earphones Award for The Mind Club by Daniel M. Wegner and Kurt Gray, and was nominated for an Audie Award for his contribution to the short story collection Rip-Off! As an actor he has worked on stage, film, and television. Summers often find him performing Shakespeare for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot on New York's Lower East Side and also in Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA. David Marantz is an actor living in New York City. He has narrated eighty-five-plus titles since his first in 2011. He won an AudioFile Earphones Award for The Mind Club by Daniel M. Wegner and Kurt Gray, and was nominated for an Audie Award for his contribution to the short story collection Rip-Off! As an actor he has worked on stage, film, and television. Summers often find him performing Shakespeare for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot on New York's Lower East Side and also in Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA.