Rapid disintegration and weakening of ice shelves in North Greenland

• Published in: Nature communications 2023-11, Vol.14 (1), p.6914-6914, Article 6914
• Main Authors: Millan, R., Jager, E., Mouginot, J., Wood, M. H., Larsen, S. H., Mathiot, P., Jourdain, N. C., Bjørk, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 704/106/125; 704/106/829/2737; Disintegration; Environmental Sciences; Flow velocity; Glaciers; Humanities and Social Sciences; Ice sheets; Ice shelves; Land ice; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sea level
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42198-2

The glaciers of North Greenland are hosting enough ice to raise sea level by 2.1 m, and have long considered to be stable. This part of Greenland is buttressed by the last remaining ice shelves of the ice sheet. Here, we show that since 1978, ice shelves in North Greenland have lost more than 35% of their total volume, three of them collapsing completely. For the floating ice shelves that remain we observe a widespread increase in ice shelf mass losses, that are dominated by enhanced basal melting rates. Between 2000 and 2020, there was a widespread increase in basal melt rates that closely follows a rise in the ocean temperature. These glaciers are showing a direct dynamical response to ice shelf changes with retreating grounding lines and increased ice discharge. These results suggest that, under future projections of ocean thermal forcing, basal melting rates will continue to rise or remain at high level, which may have dramatic consequences for the stability of Greenlandic glaciers. North Greenland ice shelves have lost more than a third of their masses, thinning dramatically from below due to increased ocean temperatures. In response, grounding lines have retreated and the amount of ice discharged into the ocean has increased.