Scottish Research Team: Greenland's Glaciers Melting From Below In Mid-Winter

[hatrack]

A team of Scottish scientists has revealed how the Greenland ice sheet is melting - even in winter. The research has been carried out at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) who found massive warm waves are melting the ice from below.

The Greenland ice sheet contains almost 650,000 cubic miles of ice and is the planet's second largest ice sheet. Climate change means it is also the second largest contributor to rising global sea levels.

Ocean physicist Dr Neil Fraser at the SAMS laboratories at Dunstaffnage, near Oban, has created a computer model of how huge waves below the surface of the Atlantic are pushing relatively warm water up Greenlandic fjords. The scientific name is "coastally trapped internal waves". They measure 140m from trough to crest.

The waves are warm, although in the Arctic winter this is a relative term, being a few degrees above zero. They are created by strong winter winds in the northeast Atlantic. Dr Fraser described it as a "perfect storm scenario". He said: "These waves are pushing warm water into the fjord and towards the glacier, causing melting hundreds of metres below the ocean surface."

EDIT

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-46646203

[femmedem]

1. Oh no.

A tipping point?

This smiley never seemed more appropriate:

[at140]

2. DC area has major snowstorm!

https://wtop.com/media-galleries/2019/01/photos-dc-areas-1st-snowstorm-of-2019/slide/1/

[Boomer]

3. Yes, that's climate change in action

How climate change could counterintuitively feed winter storms

First and most obviously, scientists stress that nothing about winter cold — even the extremes now assaulting the East Coast in a historic “bomb cyclone” — refutes global warming.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/01/04/how-climate-change-could-counterintuitively-feed-some-winter-storms

[mountain grammy]

4. Bad news.