Glacial earthquakes rock Greenland ice sheet
New Scientist are saying Glacial earthquakes rock Greenland ice sheet
A rapid increase in “glacial earthquakes” – caused by sudden large movements of glaciers – over the past few years indicates that warmer temperatures will destroy the Greenland ice sheet faster than expected, a new study warns.
Surface meltwater is not dribbling away, as if from a giant ice block melting slowly, but is seeping through cracks to the bottom of the glacier. Once there it forms a layer that “helps lift the glacier up from the rock” so it flows faster to the sea, says seismologist Göran Ekström at Harvard University, US, who led the study.
- DS
Technorati Tags: climate change, eco, environment, glaciers, global warming, Greenland, meltdown, sea level
June 28th, 2006 at 9:55 am
[...] We covered this accelerating phenomena earlier this year, and it seems the situation is rapidly worsening. In an influential paper published in the journal Science, Zwally surmised that the ice sheets had accelerated in response to warmer temperatures, as summer meltwater lubricated the base of the ice sheet and allowed it to slide faster toward the sea. [...]