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According to a new NASA study, a large Greenland glacier is expanding, after years of contraction and significant ice loss.
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The Jakobshavn Glacier has been the driest and most enlightened glacier in the country for 20 years and has now turned up surprisingly.
The glacier is now flowing more slowly, thickening and advancing, instead of withdrawing further inland, the space agency reported.
The glacial study conducted by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, was published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Monday. It is based on data from NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland mission, as well as other observations.
The researchers cautioned, however, that the glacier was still contributing to sea level rise as it was losing more ice in the ocean than snow accumulation, albeit at a steady pace. slower.
They speculated that the slowing of ice melt would have been caused by an ocean current that would have caused much colder water on the glacier's ocean face in 2016. The temperature of the water near the glacier is now lower than it has been since 2016, according to NASA.
The researchers were shocked by the discovery that the glacier was thickening again.
"At first we did not believe it," said Ala Khazendar of the Jet Propulsion Lab. "We almost assumed that Jakobshavn would continue as if nothing had happened in the last 20 years."
Khazendar pointed out that cold water near the glacier for three consecutive years was one of the reasons for its new growth.
The researchers said they did not expect this trend to continue. When climatic conditions recede again, the glacier will likely begin to accelerate and clear again, researchers said.
© 2019 Cox Media Group.
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