Sander Greenland, a statistician at the University of California, Los Angeles, says the data are "ambiguous" and can be spun either to argue for or against a risk of cancer death.

FORBES: Another Storm Brewing For Vytorin

The University of Texas scientists pointed out that normally, icebergs move south from Greenland in fits and starts, frequently grounding in the shallow waters off Labrador and Newfoundland.

CNN: The sun, the moon and the Titanic

According to John Wahr at the University of Colorado-Boulder, glaciers and ice caps in places other than Greenland and Antarctica lost about 30% less ice than had previously been estimated.

FORBES: Man The Lifeboats! Global Warming Has Oceans Rising At Alarming Rate! (Or Maybe not)

"Antarctica is so cold that even if warming occurs it won't melt" at the rate seen in Greenland, said Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the University of Washington in Seattle and a co-author of the new paper.

WSJ: Polar Ice Sheets Melt at Faster Pace

"We used computer models to simulate the climate forcing impact of the observed changes in soot concentrations in Greenland snow during the past 215 years, " said co-author Mark Flanner from the University of California.

BBC: Human activities have left a visible mark on the Arctic