Greenland Ice Flow Likely to Speed Up: New Data Assert Glaciers Move Over Sediment, Which Gets More Slippery as It Gets Wetter

Flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet is likely to speed up in the future, despite a recent slowdown, because its outlet glaciers slide over wet sediment, not hard rock, new research based on seismic surveys has confirmed.  This sediment will become weaker and more slippery as global temperatures rise and meltwater supply becomes more variable.

The findings challenge the view that the recent slowdowns in ice flow would continue in the long term.

The research, published in Science Advances, was led by Professor Bernd Kulessa, a glaciologist at Swansea University, and involved experts from the UK, Canada, Sweden, and Norway.

Read more at Greenland Ice Flow Likely to Speed Up:  New Data Assert Glaciers Move Over Sediment, Which Gets More Slippery as It Gets Wetter