Extreme melting at Greenland's largest floating ice tongue

25 March 2024

The 79° North Glacier in Greenland has experienced significant changes over the last decades. Due to extreme melt rates, the ice has thinned significantly in the vicinity of the grounding line, where a large subglacial channel has formed since 2010. The authors attribute these changes to warm ocean currents and increased subglacial discharge from surface melt. However, basal melting has decreased since 2018, indicating colder water inflow into the cavity below the glacier.


The also read the press release by Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).

Extreme melting at Greenland's largest floating ice tongue
Ole Zeising, Niklas Neckel, Nils Dörr, Veit Helm, Daniel Steinhage, Ralph Timmermann, and Angelika Humbert
The Cryosphere, 18, 1333–1357, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1333-2024, 2024

Contact: Ole Zeising (ole.zeising@awi.de)