A new study shows that thick sea-ice can increase the sensitivity of Greenlandic fjords to climate warming.
A new study shows that thick sea-ice can increase the sensitivity of Greenlandic fjords to climate warming. Understanding the factors that control how fast glaciers move, break up and deposit chunks of ice (icebergs) into the fjords—and eventually the sea—is vital for predicting how the Greenland ice sheet will change under a warming climate and for predicting global rates of sea-level rise.
A new study led by Stockholm University Assistant Professor Christian Stranne, shows that thick sea-ice outside the fjords can actually increase the sensitivity of Greenlandic fjords to warming. Stranne and a team of researchers from Sweden, Greenland, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada report on expeditions to two distinct fjords in northern Greenland during the 2015 and 2019 summers. “These fjords were practically inaccessible to researchers until quite recently because the sea-ice was too thick—they are some of the least-studied areas on the planet, and require a large icebreaker to reach them, even in the summer,” says Stranne. The inaccessibility and sea-ice build-up is due to the direction of Arctic Ocean currents; the Beaufort Gyre and Transpolar Drift push ice from across the Arctic up against the northern Greenland coast.
Read more at: Stockholm University
Helicopter view over the Ryder Glacier ice tongue. (Photo Credit: Martin Jakobsson)
