Ongoing grounding line retreat and fracturing initiated at the Petermann Glacier ice shelf, Greenland, after 2016
8 August 2022
For the first time, a dramatic retreat of the grounding line of Petermann Glacier, a major glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet, was detected. Using satellite data, also a speedup of the glacier and a fracturing of the ice shelf was observed. This sequence of events is coherent with ocean warming in this region and suggests that Petermann Glacier has initiated a phase of destabilization, which is of prime importance for the stability and future contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level rise.
The press release by the Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement can be found at: https://www.ige-grenoble.fr/Major-glacier-in-northern-Greenland-shows-dramatic-signs-of-weakening
Ongoing grounding line retreat and fracturing initiated at the Petermann Glacier ice shelf, Greenland, after 2016
The Cryosphere, 16, 3021-3031, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3021-2022, 2022
Contact: Romain Millan (romi@ign.ku.dk)
