US EditionWhy a huge hidden flood in 2014 burst through the Greenland ice sheet surface
GREENLAND, JUL 30 – An 85-meter-deep crater formed as 90 million cubic meters of water flooded from a subglacial lake, revealing upward water flow through Greenland's ice sheet for the first time.
- During summer 2014, an international team of researchers observed a subglacial lake drain, forming an 85-meter-deep crater across two km2 and releasing 90 million cubic meters of water.
- Scientists at Lancaster University's Center of Excellence in Environmental Data Science found that a previously undetected subglacial lake beneath remote northern Greenland drained rapidly, with pressure-driven fracturing creating pathways for water to force upward.
- The surface revealed deep cracks with 25 m-high ice blocks and a 385,000 square meter water-scoured zone, twice the size of New York's Central Park.
- Malcolm McMillan now plans to scan satellite imagery for similar events, as existing numerical models of the Greenland ice sheet do not consider upward subglacial floods, prompting calls for updates.
- Documenting this phenomenon provides new insights into ice-sheet evolution and suggests that complete melting of Greenland's ice sheet could raise global sea levels by 7.4 meters, as detailed in Nature Geoscience.
17 Articles
17 Articles
In 2014, a flood disaster occurs in Greenland. Researchers on satellite images are only now discovering a two square kilometre crater that emerges. They don't trust their eyes - and first think the data is a mistake.
Below the ground, a lake has formed in Greenland. When it breaks through the ice sheet in 2014, huge amounts of water are shooting up. What does climate change have to do with it?
A team of scientists, partly funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), discovered that a subglacial lake in Greenland had emptied itself by climbing and breaking the surface of the ice cap, announced on Wednesday the ESA in parallel with the publication of this research in the journal Nature Geoscience. These new discoveries shed light on the destructive potential of melted water stored under the ice cap. ...
NewScientist
Anti-Aging, Acupuncture and Health NewsMeltwater bursts through Greenland ice in first-of-a-kind eruption
Satellite images reveal how a subglacial lake erupted through the Greenland ice sheet – a phenomenon never witnessed before which could be driven by rising temperatures
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