The Toledo Blade's Tom Henry is writing a three-part series about global warming impacts on the residents of Greenland. In part one of this series, Henry discusses the positive and negative impacts of the warming from direct conversations with the locals. Henry visited the fishing community of Ilulissat, which has a population of 4,500 people and is located at 69 degrees north latitude.

Positives

--Summer fishing season is longer.
--Crops are being grown in areas that were never thought possible. It did not specify what types of crops.
--Increasing hydropower potential (glacier meltwater) is attracting many new projects, which could lead to more jobs.
--Beer! Supposedly, Greenland beer tastes great with that pristine water from melted inland ice.

Negatives

--Lack of sea ice is making winter passage between settlements much more difficult, especially since sled dogs are primary transportation.
--Ice fishing is more treacherous (fishing is the #1 industry).
--Famous Greenland halibut are becoming more elusive and swimming deeper.
--More whales are coming in toward the coast and acting as vacuum cleaners, sucking up large numbers of small fish.

Ove Rosbach, who has fished the Arctic for decades, blamed the decline on warmer ocean currents flowing to the north. He said a similar phenomenon occurred in the 1950s.

Halibut returned when the ocean current cooled in the 1970s, but Mr. Rosbach said things feel different now. Even when the sun is not shining, it's still very warm,' he said. "The sun is warmer than normal now."

The article by Henry is fairly long, but there are also some videos about the scientific work being done at the Byrd Polar Research Center. Henry also took some nice photos of the visit.

Source