NASA Report Reveals Large Glacier Melting and Causing Rise in Sea Level

This past Monday (8), NASA scientists reported that a large glacier is connecting with the ocean tides and the glacier, which is causing a melting that, until then, was unknown. A considerable rise in sea level was also found. The study was carried out by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoryand a team of glaciologists from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and published in the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study showed that the tides are rising due to ground line from the glacier of Peterman, which is located in the region where the ice sheet begins to expand on top of the ocean. What can change as the tides move. According to Enrico Ciracì, a scientist at the University of California, the line of the ice block moves between 2 and 6 kilometers, depending on the movement of the tides.

Petermann Glacier/Greenpeace/AFP/2010/Reproduction

This is a great discovery for the scientific community as it was believed that the grounding line did not connect between the tides and this discovery may explain the cause of melting glaciers and rapid rise in sea levels. In the years 2016 and 2022, warmer waves melted the ice at the bottom of the glacier, on the grounding line, and ended up forming a hole 204 meters high. “These ice-ocean interactions make glaciers more sensitive to warming seas.” said NASA research scientist Eric Rignot.

According to the CNN, this spring ocean surface temperatures reached the highest level ever recorded. The event has alarmed scientists who are concerned that this phenomenon could become a new trend. Since, it threatens the coastal regions of the entire planet.

Melting ice in Greenland is the main cause of sea level rise, according to NASA, which has been accelerating over the years.

Featured Photo: Petermann Glacier Melt/NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/Robert Simmon/Reproduction