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View of Greeland ice sheet from airplane window.

View of Greeland ice sheet from airplane window.
View of Greeland ice sheet from airplane window.
View of Greeland ice sheet from airplane window.
View of Greeland ice sheet from airplane window.
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334320
Linder, Christopher L.
View of Greeland ice sheet from airplane window.
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07/08/2008
graphics/PD4_greenland/cl_20080708090221.jpg
From the air, Greenland's ice sheet looked like white molasses oozing down the mountainside and into the sea. It's a scene familiar to veteran glaciologist Mark Fahnestock from the University of New Hampshire, who has worked in Antarctica and Greenland. During the flight, he invited me over to his right-side window for a view of our future campsite. While our team will be camping farther up the ice sheet, where lakes pool on the surface, Mark's team will be working at the seaward edge, where the glacier gives birth to giant icebergs.
Image of The Day caption:
From the air, Greenland's ice sheet looked like white molasses oozing down the mountainside and into the sea. Researchers are investigating Greenland's glacial lakes, which form atop the ice sheet each spring and summer as returning sunlight melts ice and snow. They have found that as lake grow larger, large cracks can open up at their bases, allowing the lake water to drain in a dramatic surge all the way to the bedrock at the bottom of glaciers. The water lubricates the base of the glacier, like grease on a railroad track, allowing glaciers to flow faster toward the coast and discharge more ice to the ocean.
Photo by Chris Linder
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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