Deformation, warming and softening of Greenland’s ice by refreezing meltwater

• DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2179
• Publication Date: 2014-06-13T09:03:35Z
• Authors: Robin E. Bell; Kirsteen Tinto; Indrani Das; Michael Wolovick; Winnie Chu; Timothy T. Creyts; Nicholas Frearson; Abdulhakim Abdi; John D. Paden
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

When basal meltwater refreezes, the resulting warm ice can influence the flow dynamics of the ice sheet above. An analysis of airborne gravity and radar data identifies extensive basal-ice units across the northern Greenland ice sheet that coincide with areas of deformed ice and fast ice flow.