A team of researchers noticed heavy melting of a massive glacier in Northeastern Greenland, a trend that would have an effect on sea level rise.
Published in the journal Nature, the new study indicated the glacier could account for 18 inches of sea level rise if it melted away entirely, USA Today reported.
"North Greenland glaciers are changing rapidly," study lead author Jeremie Mouginot, an associate project scientist at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), said in a press release. "The shape and dynamics of Zachariae Isstrom have changed dramatically over the last few years. The glacier is now breaking up and calving high volumes of icebergs into the ocean, which will result in rising sea levels for decades to come.
Ocean warming has likely played a major role in triggering [the glacier's]retreat, but we need more oceanographic observations in this critical sector of Greenland to determine its future."
For their study, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory aided the researchers with satellite data from the Operation IceBridge mission.
"Zachariae Isstrom is being hit from above and below," study senior author Eric Rignot, Chancellor's Professor of Earth system science at UCI, said in the release. "The top of the glacier is melting away as a result of decades of steadily increasing air temperatures, while its underside is compromised by currents carrying warmer ocean water, and the glacier is now breaking away into bits and pieces and retreating into deeper ground."
