‘We haven’t observed anything like this before’

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Researchers were surprised and alarmed to learn of a strange development in Greenland that took place more than a decade ago.

What’s happening?

As New Scientist reported, a massive eruption of meltwater from a subglacial lake punched through Greenland’s ice sheet in 2014. The discovery bucked conventional wisdom regarding how meltwater disperses from Greenland’s subglacial lakes.

“We haven’t observed anything like this before,” Malcolm McMillan of Lancaster University explained. “We know that lakes beneath Greenland drain. But what we’ve never seen before is this fracturing and the water actually erupting through the surface of the ice sheet.”

The chance discovery came after a review of satellite imagery revealed a massive crater in the ice sheet. Researchers theorized that water pressure built up and burst through the ice over 10 days in summer 2014.

Why is the development such a concern?

The study reveals there’s still a great deal for scientists to learn about Greenland’s receding ice sheet. Even the awareness of those subglacial lakes is a relatively new development in the scientific community.

After Antarctica, Greenland holds the most ice cover in the world. Planet-heating air pollution from dirty energy sources is causing a massive and unsustainable loss of Arctic ice. Research by NASA indicates rising global temperatures are resulting in a 12.2% loss every decade. In 1980, Arctic sea ice covered 7.5 million square kilometers. By 2024, that figure had dropped to 4.3 million. This results in rising sea levels, more and worse extreme weather events, and the loss of critical habitats for wildlife.

What’s being done to preserve Greenland’s ice sheet?

While the study exposes troubling developments, the insights gained are invaluable for forming future climate policy. There are calls for research into radical geoengineering solutions to buy more time for the polar ice caps, but those will require several years of intense study before they can come to fruition, according to UChicago News.

Everyone can help the broader effort by raising public awareness, communicating the urgency with loved ones, and adopting clean energy.

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