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The Greenland ice sheet is slipping much more than previously thought, according to a new study.
This means that the ice sheet can change faster in a warmer climate, said a group of researchers on July 10 in the journal Science Advances.
"Understanding the flow of ice is very important to predict the future melting of Greenland," said lead author Nathan Maier, PhD candidate at the University of Greenland. Wyoming. Ice fl ows bring ice from the cold interior regions of the Greenland icecap to its warmer edges, where it melts. [Images of Melt: Earth’s Vanishing Ice]
The flow of ice occurs through two different processes: ice sliding on the bed and deformation, which turns the ice into a kind of "molasses flowing," said Maier. Understanding the relative scale of these two types of movements helps scientists determine how much ice will move in high-melting areas along the edges of the ice cap.
Maier and his team drilled holes in the ice with the help of a big drill. They also installed 212 tilt sensors, which measure the degree of deformation and slippage. The researchers measured the ice movement from 2014 to 2016, concluding that the Greenland icecap really was sliding very fast over the underlying bedrock.
"This is quite surprising because it is thought that these regions have slipping speeds well below those of regions resting on slippery mud," Maier told Live Science. "What is even more surprising is that we recorded this behavior in winter, when there is no surface melting, which can further lubricate the bed and increase the rate slip. "
This means that "even in these relatively boring and slow-moving regions of the ice layer resting on a rock, ice can quickly be brought back to areas of high melting point," he added. The researchers even discovered that the main continental ice sheet of Greenland was sliding more than some parts of the extremely fast moving glaciers on the periphery, such as Jakobshavn, in western Greenland.
Previous work has shown that global warming has altered the movement of ice along the edges of the ice cap, resulting in increased thickening or thinning, which in turn altered the melting of surfaces.
"Now that we have basically seen high rates of slippage everywhere we've seen the pack ice, even in the least likely places, like ours, we know that ice can be moved very efficiently," he said. he declares. "Thus, the rates of thickening and thinning are likely to occur faster than previously thought."
This means that the ice could change faster in a warmer climate than previously thought, he said.
Originally published on Science live.
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