Publisher backtracks on Times atlas claim of dramatic ice loss in Greenland

Abstract

The newly revised Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, which many people consider authoritative, includes a set of outstanding maps and illustrations with more than 25,000 mapping updates in addition to incorporating new information about environmental changes on the planet. However, a press release announcing the 13th edition of the atlas, published on 15 September, also indicates that Greenland's ice cover has shrunk by 15% since the publication of an earlier version of the atlas, in 1999. After some glaciologists sharply disputed that number, the atlas publisher, HarperCollins, issued a “clarification” on 20 September that apologizes for the press release but stands by the accuracy of the map. The press release for the atlas indicated that the new edition “has had to erase 15% of Greenland's once permanent ice cover—turning an area the size of the United Kingdom and Ireland ‘green’ and ice‐free. This is concrete evidence of how climate change is altering the face of the planet forever—and doing so at an alarming and accelerating rate.”