![\"A](\"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2016\/10\/Greenland-2-800x455.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOver the past several decades, scientists have observed a significant\u00a0increase in the melting of glacial land ice on the island of\u00a0Greenland, spurring concerns about global sea level rise and the\u00a0long-term effects of atmospheric warming.\u00a0Thomas Mote, a Distinguished Research Professor of Geography at UGA,\u00a0was part of a team that used satellite imagery to document an extreme\u00a0ice sheet melt in 2012. On average, about half of the surface of Greenland\u2019s\u00a0ice sheet naturally melts in the summer. In 2012, an estimated 97\u00a0percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by mid-July.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreenland is very much a harbinger of some of the climate change that\u00a0we have seen over the latter century,\u201d said Mote. \u201cThis was the first time\u00a0we witnessed almost all of the ice sheet melt in the three decades since\u00a0satellite surveillance began.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In addition to understanding what causes these extreme melting events, researchers also want to know what happens to the meltwater once it enters the ocean. Renato Castelao, an associate professor of marine sciences at UGA, helped create a simulation that tracks meltwater runoff under a variety of atmospheric conditions.<\/p>\n
According to the model, wind and ocean currents often transport meltwater from Greenland\u2019s east coast around the southern tip of Greenland on a westward journey that can take upward of 60 days. Meltwater from the west coast of Greenland is typically kept pinned to the coastline by strong trade winds, which push in northward toward Baffin Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstanding the fate of meltwater is important, because research has shown that it can carry a variety of nutrients, which may impact biological production in the ocean,\u201d Castelao said. \u201cThe meltwater that comes from the east coast could have different qualities from the meltwater on the west coast, including different nutrient compositions. We need to take the origins of this meltwater into account when we study the effects of ice sheet melt, as it could impact the oceans differently depending on where it comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Thomas](\"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2016\/10\/Greenland-3-800x455.jpg\")
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In a study published last year, Mote (featured above) and colleagues from universities around the world found evidence that links melting ice in Greenland to a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification\u2014faster warming of the Arctic compared to the rest of the Northern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was unique in the extensive melting that occurred on the northern reaches of the ice sheet, an area that usually has rather modest melt compared to Southern Greenland,\u201d Mote said. \u201cWe identified an unusual configuration of the jet stream toward northern Greenland that led to this melt pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Greenland ice sheet, which covers about 80 percent of Greenland, is the Earth\u2019s second largest after the Antarctic ice sheet. If its layers of ice were to melt entirely, it would raise average global sea level by about 7 meters, or almost 23 feet. Learning more about the drivers of melting is essential to discerning how much sea level will rise in the future and how Greenland\u2019s freshwater runoff will affect ocean circulation and ecology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the past several decades, scientists have observed a significant\u00a0increase in the melting of glacial land ice on the island of\u00a0Greenland, spurring concerns about global sea level rise and the\u00a0long-term effects of atmospheric warming.\u00a0Thomas Mote, a Distinguished Research Professor of Geography at UGA,\u00a0was part of a team that used satellite imagery to document an extreme\u00a0ice … <\/p>\n