Shrinking Glaciers Consistent Ice Loss For The Foreseeable Future A New Normal For Greenland’s Ice Sheet
Greenland is the largest island on Earth, and about 80% of it is covered by a giant sheet of ice. Slowly flowing glaciers connect this massive frozen reservoir of fresh water to the ocean, but because of climate change, these glaciers are rapidly retreating.
As Greenland’s glaciers retreat, they are losing ice at a faster and faster rate.
Michalea King, CC BY-ND
I’m an earth scientist who studies how changes to Greenland’s glaciers affect the stability of the ice sheet as a whole. Healthy glaciers are stable in size and shape and act as drains for the ice sheet, transporting ice into the sea. They maintain a balance where the ice added each year roughly equals the ice lost to the sea.
But because of warming caused by climate change, that dynamic has changed.
For years, scientists have w...