NASA-funded study says glacier shape matters and influences vulnerability to melting

A new NASA-funded study has identified which glaciers in West Greenland are most susceptible to thinning in the coming decades by analyzing how they’re shaped. The research could help predict how much the Greenland Ice Sheet will contribute to future sea level rise in the next century, a number that currently ranges from inches to feet.

“There are glaciers that popped up in our study that flew under the radar until now,” said lead author Denis Felikson, a graduate research assistant at The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) and a Ph.D. student in The University of Texas Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. Felikson’s study was published in Nature Geoscience on April 17.

Read more: go.nasa.gov/2pJJwNA

Caption: Terminus of Kangerlugssuup Sermerssua glacier in west Greenland

Photo credit: Denis Felikson, Univ. of Texas

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