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The Tracy and Heilprin glaciers have been observed and observed since they were discovered in 1892. The researchers finally solved the problem of why side-by-side glaciers melt at different rates.
( NASA )
Why are two Greenland glaciers sitting side by side melting at radically different rates? Thanks to NASA's OMG campaign, scientists now know why.
Tracy and Heilprin
It was in 1892 that explorers discovered the Tracy and Heilprin glaciers in northwestern Greenland. The two glaciers are one next to the other and scientists and researchers observe them and measure them sporadically since their discovery.
Interestingly, even though Tracy and Heilprin are experiencing the same weather and ocean conditions and flowing into the same gulf, the researchers observed that the two glaciers were melting at radically different rates. In fact, over the past 125 years, Heilprin has only retreated less than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) upstream, while Tracy has already retreated more than 15 kilometers (9.5 miles) in upstream. That means Tracy lost ice four times faster than her neighbor.
About 10 years ago, NASA's IceBridge Operation discovered a significant difference between the two glaciers that helped them understand the melting ice's gap. With the help of ice penetrating radar, the researchers found that Tracy was resting on a much deeper bedrock than Heilprin.
Scientists believe that this difference probably affects the melting rates of both glaciers, especially as the upper layer of the ocean around Greenland is much colder than the deeper waters. Since Tracy sits on a deeper bedrock, she is more exposed to hot water.
NASA OMG Campaign
Now, a new study published in the journal Oceanography presents additional data that further explains the ice melting difference between the two glaciers and highlights the role of the oceans in ice loss.
NASA's OMeas (Oceans Melting Greenland) campaign, designed to study glacial and oceanic conditions around the Greenland coast, sent a boat to the Inglefield gulf to collect more data on Tracy and Heilprin and discovered a stream of water. it's exhausting under Tracy.
Obviously, what happens is that when floating fresh water escapes from Tracy, it also brings warmer groundwater, which then rises and swirls on the glacial face. from Tracy.
"Most of the melting occurs when water rises on Tracy's face.It is eating away at a huge part of the glacier," said Josh Willis, OMG Principal Investigator.
Together, Tracy's depth and the flow of the underlying river explain why Tracy and Heilprin have completely different melting rates, even though they sit side by side.
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