Two photos have taken very widely shared in the past week, for two very different reasons.

Tom Fox, a photographer for the Dallas Morning News, managed to snap a terrifying picture of US shooter Brian Clyde.

While America dealt with another maniac with a gun, while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge the need for gun control or the existence of climate change, another photo pertaining to the latter went viral.

Steffen Olsen from the Centre for Ocean and Ice at the Danish Meteorological Institute shared a picture that highlights the effects of global warming on Greenland’s sea ice, reports the Guardian.

Before we take a look at that image, this is an image comparing the same landscape in 1933 and 2013.

Not looking good – and that was six years ago.

Moving on to the photo taken in the Inglefield Bredning fjord, depicting water on top of what Olsen said was an ice sheet 1,2 metres thick, that really hits home:

Perhaps it’s because it first appears as though the dogs are running on water.

The photo emerged at the same time as concerning temperature data from Greenland.

On Saturday, the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang said European weather models showed that temperatures over parts of Greenland peaked at 22.2C (40F) above normal last Wednesday, the day before the photo was taken.

Above-average temperatures over nearly all of the Arctic ocean and Greenland during May have led to an early ice retreat, with the second-lowest extent of ice in the 40-year satellite record being registered, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre.

The melting sea ice presents a few significant problems for people living in Greenland who rely on it for transport, hunting and fishing.

Melting events like this don’t usually take place until late into the summer, and the continuing warm conditions in Greenland mean that dog-sledges will have a tough time of it for a while.

Unfortunately, they can’t just bury their heads in the (melting) snow.

[source:guardian]