Greenland’s Icecap Loses Stability

Greenland – the largest terrestrial mass of ice in the northern hemisphere – may be melting a little faster than anyone had guessed.

A region of the Greenland ice sheet that had been thought to be stable is undergoing what glaciologists call “dynamic thinning”.  That is because the meltwater from the ice sheet is getting into the sea, according to a study in Nature Climate Change.

In short, Greenland’s contribution to sea level rise has been under-estimated, and oceanographers may need to think again about their projections.

Greenland’s Icecap Loses Stability