What physical influences is Greenland experiencing from climate change? This is what a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated how the melting and thawing of ice on Greenland is causing the island to strain, stress, and deform. This study has the potential to help scientists, legislators, and the public better understand the physical influences of climate change and the steps that can be taken to mitigate them.
For the study, the researchers used data collected from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) stations to create computer models that simulated how Greenland is being deformed from ice melt, which included measuring the movement and speed of ice plates. This is because Greenland rests on a tectonic plate that moves it northwestward but the stations monitoring this movement have been found to not move with the same speed. Therefore, something must be influencing Greenland’s movement and speed. In the end, the researchers found that the melting ice has caused Greenland to stretch and expand in some regions.
Researchers examining a station for the study. (Credit: DTU Space)
“The ice that has melted in recent decades has pushed Greenland outward and caused uplift, so the area has actually become larger during this period,” said Dr. Danjal Longfors Berg, who is a postdoc at the Technical University of Denmark and lead author of the study. “At the same time, we see movement in the opposite direction, where Greenland is rising and contracting due to prehistoric changes in the ice masses related to the last Ice Age and its end.”
Greenland has long been used as an indicator for climate change, as scientists analyze its ice sheets, glaciers, and surrounding waters respond to increasing temperatures. This includes examining ice melt, sea level rise, atmospheric warming, glacial retreat, and ocean circulation. While Greenland is largely uninhabited, it still hosts approximately 60,000 people, along with scores of plants and wildlife.
How will climate change continue to deform Greenland in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth, EurekAlert!
