After 20 Years, One of Greenland’s Glaciers is Growing

We are talking about one of the biggest glaciers from Greenland, who, for the first time in 20 years has started growing. The growth on the Jakobshavn Glacier has been recorded since 2016 by the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG).

Some explanations for the changes of the glacier are given in the Nature Geoscience magazine.

Because of the “cooling of oceans water” from the North Atlantic Ocean, the glacier is “re-advancing, slowing, and thickening.” Also, the Ocean is at 966 kilometers south of the glacier. Even if this is a reverse process, it doesn’t mean that the Greenland Ice Sheet is out of discussion regarding the collapse.

Moreover, from the study of the researchers, we found out that this could be a climate pattern. They called it the North Atlantic Oscillation, and this is the factor responsible for the cold water shift.

Ala Khazendar from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said that they didn’t believe it at first. Because Jakobshan glacier is the fastest flowing and thinning from Greenland, being responsible for seven percent draining of Greenland’s ice sheet.

However, this climate pattern is slowing switching water temperature from warm to cold every five to twenty years. Right now is in the cooling phase.

The problem is that when the pattern switches back to the warm faze, the glacier will reverse and will continue to melt. Also, the oceans are still warming up, and the problem will not disappear.  The impact that oceans have on the glacier is significant, even if Jakobshavn is taking a temporary break right now.

Unfortunately, the scientist had discovered another factor that contributes to the rapid melting in Greenland. After three hundred studies, the discoveries had shown that the rain in any form it comes, the winds, and the increased temperatures, are harming the ice sheet.

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