Northeast Greenland Glaciers Are Now Melting Rapidly, Study Finds

The glaciers of northeast Greenland, long thought to be the most stable part of the massive Greenland ice sheet, are melting at an accelerating pace, losing roughly 10

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Greenland ice velocities

Ice surface velocities in Greenland
billion tons of ice annually for the past decade, say researchers from the U.S. and Denmark. The finding will likely boost estimates of global sea level rise, which had previously not accounted for massive ice loss from that region, scientists say. The Zachariae ice stream in northeast Greenland, which drains 16 percent of the ice sheet, has retreated roughly 12.4 miles in the past decade, outpacing the fast-moving Jakobshavn glacier, which has retreated 21.7 miles over the last 150 years. Ice loss from the region is likely accelerating, the researchers say, because ice dams in nearby bays that had been blocking the glaciers’ paths are now also melting, freeing the way for the glaciers to flow into the ocean.