Greenland has been behind approximately 14 mm of sea level rise since 1992. This is due to increased melting from the ice surface in response to warmer air temperatures, and increased flow of ice into the ocean in response to warmer ocean temperatures, which are both being driven by climate change.
Greenland contains enough ice to add 7 meters (23 feet) of sea level rise to the world’s oceans if the entire ice sheet were to melt. Research has shown that Greenland could contribute up to 30 cm (one foot) to sea level rise by 2100.
Study lead author Dr. Tom Chudley, a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Geography, Durham University, U.K., said, “In a warming world, we would expect to see more crevasses forming. This is because glaciers are accelerating in response to warmer ocean temperatures, and because meltwater filling crevasses can force fractures deeper into the ice.
“However, until now, we haven’t had the data to show where and how fast this is happening across the entirety of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
“For the first time, we are able to see significant increases in the size and depth of crevasses at fast-flowing glaciers at the edges of the Greenland Ice Sheet, on timescales of five years and less.
“With this dataset we can see that it’s not just that crevasse fields are extending into the ice sheet, as previously observed—instead, change is dominated by existing crevasse fields getting larger and deeper.”
Increased crevassing has the potential to speed up the loss of ice from Greenland.
Study co-author Professor Ian Howat, Director of the Byrd Polar & Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University, U.S., said, “As crevasses grow, they feed the mechanisms that make the ice sheet’s glaciers move faster, driving water and heat to the interior of the ice sheet and accelerating the calving of icebergs into the ocean.
“These processes can in turn speed up ice flow and lead to the formation of more and deeper crevasses—a domino effect that could drive the loss of ice from Greenland at a faster pace.”