Geography in Action

Where maps showed only ice-bound nunataks -- "lonely mountains," popping up out of the glaciers -- explorer Dennis Schmitt found an island. "Warming Island," he called it. Click here to view Landsat images of the transformation. In an excellent article about this and similar arctic discoveries, ("The Warming of Greenland)," Schmitt told the New York Times: "We felt the exhilaration of discovery. We were exploring something new. But of course, there was also something scary about what we did there. We were looking in the face of these changes, and all of us were thinking of the dire consequences."