"We Should Expect Further Greenland Outlet Glaciers To Follow Suit" - BBC

[hatrack]

EDIT

The Swansea-led study, which involved scientists from Leeds and Sheffield universities, looked at the Kangerdlugssuaq glacier in East Greenland and the Helheim glacier, 186 miles away. The two glaciers had remained relatively stable throughout the 1990s despite changes in other Greenland glaciers. But both have now begun accelerating at very similar rates.

Dr Luckman said that Greenpeace activists have previously raised concerns at the speed at which the Kangerdlugssuaq was moving. But he added: "This is the first time we have proved beyond doubt that it is happening."

There are two possible reasons for the acceleration, said Dr Luckman. Either an increase in surface melt-water is lubricating the passage of the glaciers or rising ocean temperatures. "We have no data on ocean temperatures but we don't find any correlation between the rate of surface melt and the acceleration," he said.

In the report, the Glaciology Group at Swansea's school of the environment and society has said: "The period of continued warming and thinning appears to have primed these glaciers for a step-change in dynamics not included in current models.


EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/4680680.stm