This is an aerial view of a lake on the Greenland Ice Sheet before, left, and after drainage, right. The waterfall, like many others on the ice sheet’s surface, was triggered by cracks in the ice sheet. There, the water can help lubricate the base of the ice sheet, helping the ice move faster toward the sea. Scientists are keenly interested in how meltwater on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet — the largest contributor to global sea level rise — acts to speed up the movement of ice toward the sea by lubricating the underside of the ice surface. A rapidly draining lake on the Greenland ice sheet as viewed from a UAV.

Source: Washington Post December 02, 2019 20:02 UTC