Greenland’s Northeastern Ice Sheet Thinning Six Times Faster Than Projected

Nature, 9 November 2022

The “ice stream” in Greenland’s largest drainage basin is shrinking and flowing much faster than previously anticipated, triggering rapid ice loss more than 200 kilometers inland. This region of fast-moving ice originates near the center of the ice sheet. Near the northeastern coast, the ice stream splits into two glaciers that partially restrain the ice behind them from rushing into the sea. When an adjoining ice shelf collapsed in 2012, the flow of ice behind these glaciers started accelerating. These changes propagated deep into the interior of Greenland within a decade. This study shows that thinning along the edges of a glacier can quickly extend hundreds of kilometers upstream. Such upstream thinning and acceleration of other large ice flows, such as those associated with Antarctica’s shrinking Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, may cause sea levels to rise faster than earlier projections. Such forecasts are crucial for low-lying nations already adapting to rising sea levels, and underscore the urgency in reducing global emissions to limit warming below the 1.5°C limit of the Paris Agreement.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05301-z