Buried deep in Greenland’s ice sheet lies a puzzling chemical signature that has sparked intense scientific debate. A sharp spike in platinum concentrations, discovered in an ice core (a cylinder of ice drilled out of ice sheets and glaciers) and dated to around 12,800 years ago, has provided support for a hypothesis that the Earth was struck by an exotic …
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One of the buzziest technologies in modern science may be running right under your feet. Fiber optic cables bring you the internet as data-rich pulses of light, but they also detect signals from the surrounding environment: Researchers can analyze the light that’s scattered when a volcanic eruption or tsunami jostles the wiring. Known as distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS, the …
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In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists were taken aback by a peculiar event that unfolded on Greenland’s ice sheet in 2014, now revealed by recent research. A study, published by Nature Geoscience, documents the unexpected eruption of meltwater from a subglacial lake, which pierced through the ice sheet in an extraordinary manner. The findings have left researchers perplexed, as this development …
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A hidden lake beneath Greenland’s Harder Glacier unexpectedly erupted, unleashing a powerful surge of water that carved a massive crater in the ice. The dramatic event caught researchers off guard, as water surged upward through thick ice, creating a profound impact on the glacier. Over just ten days, the lake released 23.8 billion gallons (90 million cubic meters) of water, …
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Greenland’s ice sheet, one of the largest in the world, is retreating at an alarming rate, creating profound impacts on both the environment and the ocean ecosystems nearby. In a recent study published in Nature Communications: Earth & Environment (2025), scientists explored the mechanisms behind this change, focusing on how the glacial meltwater might influence the marine food web. The …
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As Greenland’s ice retreats, it’s fueling tiny ocean organisms. To test why, scientists turned to a computer model out of JPL and MIT that’s been called a laboratory in itself. Runoff from Greenland’s ice sheet is kicking nutrients up from the ocean depths and boosting phytoplankton growth, a new NASA-supported study has found. Reporting in Nature Communications: Earth & Environment, …
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Scientists were caught by surprise after discovering a massive flood of subglacial lakewater burst through Greenland’s ice sheet, spilling copious amounts of water across its surface. As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, it’s the first time such a phenomenon has been observed, highlighting the fierce power being stored in meltwater lurking beneath a thick …
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A build-up of meltwater under the Greenland ice sheet in 2014 resulted in a flood of such magnitude that it burst upward through tens of meters of solid ice, fracturing the surface and spilling water to the open air. It’s the first time scientists have documented this phenomenon in Greenland, and it gives us new information for understanding how Greenland …
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