In Greenland, at the foot of glaciers, scientists discover worrying signs

On August 2, Greenland lost 12.5 billion tonnes of ice. This is the largest loss recorded in a day in history and a painful reminder of the climate crisis.

Kulusuk is also the base camp for NASA's OMGS (Oceans Melting Greenland) program. OMG scientists traveled to the largest island in the world this year after a heat wave that swept the United States and Europe, shattering temperature records and causing the massive melting of its ice sheets.

NASA oceanographer Josh Willis and his team are studying how ice is attacked not only by rising air temperatures but also by the warming of the ocean, which destroys it. from below.

A remodeled World War II DC-3 aircraft, now called Basler BT-57, takes a group of OMG researchers to the Greenland coast. In the air, the crew launches special probes through the ice floor, which then transmit data on temperature and salinity, which are used to plot the possible elevations of the sea level and their significance for humanity. in the future.

"There is enough ice in Greenland to raise the sea level by 7.5 meters, which is about 25 feet, a huge ice volume, and that would have devastating effects on the coasts of the planet," he said. said Willis. "We should already withdraw from the coast if we look at several meters [lost] in the next century or two. "

NASA took CNN for a dramatic flight over Helheim, one of the largest glaciers in Greenland and the fastest on the east coast of the island. Helheim, named after the realm of the dead in Norse mythology, is majestic, with more than four miles wide and an approximate height of the Statue of Liberty.

When our plane approached Helheim, scientists spotted an ice-free "lake" even before the glacier, which they said they did not see. did not see often. The probes also reported troubling data – Helheim was surrounded by warm water all the way down to over 2000 feet below the surface.

"It is very rare to see 700 meters of zero temperature change on the planet.Normally, we find colder waters within a hundred meters more or less, but it's hot up to the glacier," he said. Ian Fenty, scientific climate at NASA. "These warm waters can now be in direct contact with the ice all over his face, overloading the cast iron."

Helheim has become famous in recent years as she has had a breathtaking retirement. In 2017, the glacier lost two miles, and a year later, scientists from the University of New York captured a multi-kilometer ice column on the glacier front. The melting does not seem to slow down this year either.

"It goes back several meters a day, it costs tens of meters a day, you can probably set up your iPhone in real time and see it pass," says Willis as data flashes on his phone screen. .

Glaciers like Helheim, and even much smaller glaciers around villages like Kulusuk, are powerful enough to raise sea level by half a millimeter in just one month. NASA researchers say that it is impossible to ignore.

"Greenland is impacting the entire planet, with one billion tonnes of ice lost here bringing sea levels up in Australia, Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe," Willis said. "We are all connected by the same ocean."

Even though most still think of rovers and other planets when they think of NASA's missions, in the 50 years since the Moon's landing, the public's perception of the resources that the agency should devote to its resources seems to evolve. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, a majority of Americans now believe that NASA's top priority should be to monitor key elements of the Earth's climate system rather than sending a man to Mars.

And the OMG is just one of the projects on our home planet that NASA has started to accumulate over the last few decades. As the budget of NASA's Earth Sciences Division increases, the agency aligns at least two new satellites and exploration programs to track natural hazards.