Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Novel Greenland Glacier Melt Event: Subglacial Lake Bursts Through the Ice Surface
In how many different ways can a glacier like those on Greenland melt? It turns out that new mechanisms for ice melt are still being discovered, and need to be considered carefully within theoretical models on glacier melting rates.
At the northern tip of Greenland, most of the glaciers are considered frozen to the bedrock, which generally slows their movement. However, in this new peer reviewed scientific paper, evidence was recently uncovered for the following event:
A large subglacial lake built up at the bottom of a glacier. Over time, the water volume and pressure built up, as more water drained into the subglacial lake, and the pressure pushed up the ice above the lake so that there was a dome of ice pushed up over time.
Suddenly, quite abruptly, an ice dam broke, or the ice keeping the water blocked up in the subglacial lake fractured. Water from the subglacial lake quickly flowed below the ice and above the bedrock downhill, gathering speed and power.
About 3.5 to 4 km downhill, this water pressure built up enough to break through the surface of the glacier, heaving huge ice boulders upwards and releasing the water to flow downhill on the surface of the ice.
After flowing downhill in a massive outflow plain, the water once again descended through the ice via crevasses and moulins to once again flow beneath the ice on its journey downhill to eventually be released into the ocean.
This unprecedented event is yet another way that glacier ice melt can be accelerated on Greenland, and the same mechanisms no doubt occur also on Antarctica.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
New peer-reviewed scientific paper published on a new mechanism for Greenland glacier melt:
Title: Outburst of a subglacial flood from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Abstract
As Earth’s climate warms, surface melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet has intensified, increasing rates of sea-level rise. Observations and theory indicate that meltwater generated at the ice sheet surface can drain to its bed, where it flows relatively unhindered to the ocean. This understanding of water movement within and beneath ice sheets underpins the theoretical models that are used to make projections of ice sheet change. Here we present evidence of a destructive mode of meltwater drainage in Greenland. Using multiple satellite sources, we show that a 90-million-cubic-metre
subglacial food forced its way upwards from the bed, fracturing the ice sheet, and bursting through the surface. This phenomenon was triggered by the rapid drainage of a subglacial lake and occurred in a region where the ice bed was predicted to be frozen. The resulting food caused a rapid deceleration of the downstream marine-terminating glacier. Our observations reveal a complex, bi-directional coupling between the ice sheet’s surface and basal hydrological systems and demonstrate that extreme hydrological forcing may occur in regions of predicted cold-based ice. Such processes can impact the ice sheet’s dynamics and structural integrity but are not currently considered in ice sheet models.
Link to site to download this open-source free scientific paper:
nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01746-9?fbclid=IwY2xjawL-PJBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFkU0FROTlMVmk4aVE4UlNmAR7zCWfqCnU9zxDC5l5-Q5SCpnMPLggfoZfu8BRp-ow6JNo1b6mN6R0SOBmrpw_aem_mYpkgpvyUkD9FEr3E2CpIg#Fig1
Perplexity.ai query: How big is 90 million cubic meters of water?
perplexity.ai/search/how-big-is-90-million-cubic-me-_NeDnfkwQSaV.xuquZ8MwQ
Google Earth view of Greenland: Harder Glacier in the far north:
earth.google.com/web/search/harder+glacier/@72.30926838,-21.59693862,296.63008277a,5091283.59241784d,35y,24.15929618h,34.10410944t,0.00000001r/data=Cn0aTxJJCiUweDRmYmU1ODEzMWJhNTdkZGI6MHg5YzIwM2M4NWQyNGE0M2MwGTMzMzMzc1RAIdaAUv7__0XAKg5oYXJkZXIgZ2xhY2llchgCIAEiJgokCWMAUHo1SE9AESUtXZlMs0ZAGWSBEB1h7VJAIWhxJYUjGUPAQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
Novel Greenland Glacier Melt Event: Subglacial Lake Bursts Through the Ice Surface
In how many different ways can a glacier like those on Greenland melt? It turns out that new mechanisms for ice melt are still being discovered, and need to be considered carefully within theoretical models on glacier melting rates.
At the northern tip of Greenland, most of the glaciers are considered frozen to the bedrock, which generally slows their movement. However, in this new peer reviewed scientific paper, evidence was recently uncovered for the following event:
A large subglacial lake built up at the bottom of a glacier. Over time, the water volume and pressure built up, as more water drained into the subglacial lake, and the pressure pushed up the ice above the lake so that there was a dome of ice pushed up over time.
Suddenly, quite abruptly, an ice dam broke, or the ice keeping the water blocked up in the subglacial lake fractured. Water from the subglacial lake quickly flowed below the ice and above the bedrock downhill, gathering speed and power.
About 3.5 to 4 km downhill, this water pressure built up enough to break through the surface of the glacier, heaving huge ice boulders upwards and releasing the water to flow downhill on the surface of the ice.
After flowing downhill in a massive outflow plain, the water once again descended through the ice via crevasses and moulins to once again flow beneath the ice on its journey downhill to eventually be released into the ocean.
This unprecedented event is yet another way that glacier ice melt can be accelerated on Greenland, and the same mechanisms no doubt occur also on Antarctica.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
New peer-reviewed scientific paper published on a new mechanism for Greenland glacier melt:
Title: Outburst of a subglacial flood from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Abstract
As Earth’s climate warms, surface melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet has intensified, increasing rates of sea-level rise. Observations and theory indicate that meltwater generated at the ice sheet surface can drain to its bed, where it flows relatively unhindered to the ocean. This understanding of water movement within and beneath ice sheets underpins the theoretical models that are used to make projections of ice sheet change. Here we present evidence of a destructive mode of meltwater drainage in Greenland. Using multiple satellite sources, we show that a 90-million-cubic-metre
subglacial food forced its way upwards from the bed, fracturing the ice sheet, and bursting through the surface. This phenomenon was triggered by the rapid drainage of a subglacial lake and occurred in a region where the ice bed was predicted to be frozen. The resulting food caused a rapid deceleration of the downstream marine-terminating glacier. Our observations reveal a complex, bi-directional coupling between the ice sheet’s surface and basal hydrological systems and demonstrate that extreme hydrological forcing may occur in regions of predicted cold-based ice. Such processes can impact the ice sheet’s dynamics and structural integrity but are not currently considered in ice sheet models.
Link to site to download this open-source free scientific paper:
nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01746-9?fbclid=IwY2xjawL-PJBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFkU0FROTlMVmk4aVE4UlNmAR7zCWfqCnU9zxDC5l5-Q5SCpnMPLggfoZfu8BRp-ow6JNo1b6mN6R0SOBmrpw_aem_mYpkgpvyUkD9FEr3E2CpIg#Fig1
Perplexity.ai query: How big is 90 million cubic meters of water?
perplexity.ai/search/how-big-is-90-million-cubic-me-_NeDnfkwQSaV.xuquZ8MwQ
Google Earth view of Greenland: Harder Glacier in the far north:
earth.google.com/web/search/harder+glacier/@72.30926838,-21.59693862,296.63008277a,5091283.59241784d,35y,24.15929618h,34.10410944t,0.00000001r/data=Cn0aTxJJCiUweDRmYmU1ODEzMWJhNTdkZGI6MHg5YzIwM2M4NWQyNGE0M2MwGTMzMzMzc1RAIdaAUv7__0XAKg5oYXJkZXIgZ2xhY2llchgCIAEiJgokCWMAUHo1SE9AESUtXZlMs0ZAGWSBEB1h7VJAIWhxJYUjGUPAQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
