Times Atlas wrong to redraw Greenland

Greenland to be redrawn: Times Atlas,who claims to be the world’s most authoritative and prestigious maps, has been a center of talk since its announcement to redraw Greenland.

According to Atlas, Greenland has lost 15% of the ice in the last 12 years due to environmental challenges and climatic changes.

The 13th edition of the “comprehensive” version of the atlas included a number of revisions made for reasons of environmental change since the previous one, published in 2007.

The break-up of some Antarctic ice shelves due to climate change, the shrinking of inland waters such as the Dead and Aral Seas, and the drying up of rivers such as the Colorado River are all documented.

However, Leading UK polar scientists.which includes director Julian Dowdeswell, say the Times Atlas of the World was wrong to assert that it has had to re-draw its map of Greenland due to climate change.

“Recent satellite images of Greenland make it clear that there are in fact still numerous glaciers and permanent ice cover where the new Times Atlas shows ice-free conditions and the emergence of new lands,” they say in a letter that has been sent to the Times.

“We do not know why this error has occurred, but it is regrettable that the claimed drastic reduction in the extent of ice in Greenland has created headline news around the world.

“There is to our knowledge no support for this claim in the published scientific literature.”

The Times Atlas is not owned by The Times newspaper. It is published by Times Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, which is in turn owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

A spokesperson for HarperCollins said its new map was based on information provided by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

“While global warming has played a role in this reduction, it is also as result of the much more accurate data and in-depth research that is now available. Read as a whole, both the press release and the 13th edition of the Atlas make this clear.”