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Greenland's Ice Sheet Once Retreated 60 Miles Due to Massive Subglacial Flood
· Confirmed
In Short: Scientists discovered a massive flood of subglacial lakewater caused Greenland's ice sheet to retreat over 60 miles, highlighting the impact of climate change.
Scientists have uncovered a surprising event where a massive flood of subglacial lakewater burst through Greenland's ice sheet, causing it to retreat over 60 miles, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The event was first observed in 2014, when researchers watched as a 278-feet-deep crater opened up across a 0.7-square-mile area, causing 23 billion gallons of water to flood out over just ten days.
This discovery highlights the fierce power being stored in meltwater lurking beneath a thick sheet of ice. The Greenland ice sheet, which spans 1.7 million square kilometers and measures more than 3 kilometers at its thickest point, is now seen to be more vulnerable to rapid changes than previously thought.
The event also defies our predictions of how the Greenland ice sheet evolves over time, even when taking climate change and the accelerating melting of ice sheets into consideration.
During drilling in the 1960s, researchers recovered sediment from nearly a mile below the surface at Camp Century, revealing a time when warmer summers helped push Greenland’s ice more than 60 miles back from its current edge.
The type of molecular analysis used in this study is something scientists do all the time, but interpreting the results was unusually challenging. Scientists had to account for how the land’s elevation changed as the ice sheet grew and melted, which affects how temperatures can be compared across time.
The findings are significant as global warming continues to threaten the Earth’s polar ice sheets. Scientists are hopeful that these kinds of measurements can give us a better sense of how human activity is actively reshaping the planet.
Importantly, our work demonstrates the need to better understand how often subglacial lakes drain, and, critically, what the consequences are for the surrounding ice sheet.
What this adds
The discovery of the massive flood of subglacial lakewater causing Greenland's ice sheet to retreat over 60 miles is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed.
The event occurred in 2014, and the study involved mapping 1,943 subglacial valleys beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet, about a third of which are newly identified.
The research highlights the vulnerability of the Greenland ice sheet to rapid changes due to climate change, and underscores the need for better understanding of subglacial lake dynamics.
Background
Scientists discovered a massive flood of subglacial lakewater caused Greenland's ice sheet to retreat over 60 miles, highlighting the impact of climate change.
What's confirmed
- As global warming continues to threaten the Earth’s polar ice sheets, scientists are hopeful that these kinds of measurements can give us a better sense of how human activity is actively reshaping the planet.
- The event also defies our predictions of how the Greenland ice sheet evolves over time, even when taking climate change and the accelerating melting of ice sheets into consideration.
- Sediment beneath a secret Cold War base reveals a time when warmer summers helped push Greenland’s ice more than 60 miles back from its current edge.
- Greenland is capped with a vast ice sheet that spans 1.7 million square kilometers (656,000 square miles) and measures more than 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) at its thickest point.
- Using the technique, researchers manually mapped 1,943 subglacial valleys beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet, about a third of which are newly identified.
- Over just ten days in 2014, they watched as a 278-feet-deep crater opened up across a 0.7-square-mile area, causing 23 billion gallons of water to flood out.
What's still developing
- In addition to the volcano, the authors discovered a 5,000-km2 (1930 square mile) area of volcanic deposits within the volcano’s perimeter presenting a large number of low, rounded and elongated, blister-like mounds.
- A scientist who spent decades convincing colleagues that the Antarctic ice sheet could serve as a telescope has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics.
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- Some scientists have argued it was caused by erosion by massive ice sheets during the Snowball Earth period between 720 million years and 635 million years ago.
- This map shows locations of the perennial aquifer on the Greenland ice sheet detected by radar and cores in 2011.
- Scientists found the reservoir while drilling in southeast Greenland in 2011 to study snow accumulation.
- J. 7 216 Gilbert-Janizek didn't start from scratch.
- Trump has described the arrangement as giving the US "permanent control" over security in Greenland and said Washington would begin developing a larger military presence on the island.
- Now, the US president says Washington has secured a deal giving it permanent control over Greenland's security, while Denmark and Greenland insist that sovereignty remains where it is.
- From a proposed purchase to a permanent US security role Donald Trump once wanted to buy Greenland.
- Feels like: 15.8°C 15.8°F | Patchy rain nearby Greenland's parliament has approved a defense agreement with the United States and Denmark that would allow an expanded American military presence on the Arctic island.
- The agreement will enter into force once the United States receives official notification that both Greenland's and Denmark's parliaments have approved it.