14 DAY TRIAL // A team of researchers with the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) from the University of Cambridge announces the discovery of two subglacial lakes in Greenland, the first of their kind to be found on the island. Similar formations were thus far only known to exist beneath the Antarctic ice sheets.
According to the research group, these lakes are now only one third of their previous area. Measurements conducted by the team revealed that each of the two lakes covers an area of 8 to 10 square kilometers (3 to 4.6 square miles) under the Greenland Ice Sheet.
This study is very important because it has the potential to supply researchers with new information on how Greenland's ices will contribute to sea level rise and climate change over the next century or so.
Now that researchers have found subglacial lakes in the Northern Hemisphere, they plan to conduct a series of comparative analyses between these formations and those found in Antarctica. Such a study could potentially yield more insight into how these structures affect the flow of ices above them.
Liquid water under ice sheets is one of the worse scenarios for ice loss, experts say. Since the water is subjected to high pressure, it facilitates the flow of ice above it, allowing glaciers to reach the ocean faster. This in turn contributes to an even faster sea level rise.
SPRI researchers say they were able to discover Greenland's subglacial lakes by using airborne radar measurements. Dr. Steven Palmer, a former SPRI investigator who is now based at the University of Exeter, was the lead researcher on the study.
“Our results show that subglacial lakes exist in Greenland, and that they form an important part of the ice sheet's plumbing system,” the scientist explains. He says that analyses of Antarctica's 400+ submerged lakes are already providing important insights into how climate change progresses.
“Because the way in which water moves beneath ice sheets strongly affects ice flow speeds, improved understanding of these lakes will allow us to predict more accurately how the ice sheet will respond to anticipated future warming,” Palmer goes on to say, quoted by EurekAlert.