Fast retreat of Zachariæ Isstrøm, northeast Greenland

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aac7111
• Publication Date: 2015-11-13T02:39:11Z
• Authors: J. Mouginot; E. Rignot; B. Scheuchl; I. Fenty; A. Khazendar; M. Morlighem; A. Buzzi; J. Paden
• Keywords: Climate Action; General Science & Technology; 13. Climate action; Life Below Water; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

Shrinking shelf and faster flow

Zachariæ Isstrøm, a large glacier in northeast Greenland, began a rapid retreat after detaching from a stabilizing sill in the late 1990s. Mouginot et al. report that between 2002 and 2014, the area covered by the glacier's ice shelf shrank by 95%; since 1999, the glacier's flow rate has nearly doubled; and its acceleration increased threefold in the fall of 2012. These dramatic changes appear to be the result of a combination of warmer air and ocean temperatures and the topography of the ocean floor at the head of the glacier. Rising sea levels should continue to destabilize the marine portion of Zachariæ Isstrøm for decades.

Science , this issue p. 1357