NASA has released more visual proof that Greenland's large Zachariæ Isstrøm glacier is the latest to experience rapid change due to the warming world. Not only are the changes to the glacier visible from space, but the results of this break will be felt for decades to come.
According to NASA, Zachariæ Isstrøm broke out of its stable position in the fall of 2012 and has begun an accelerated retreat. Images from space show the differences between the glacier in August of 1999 and 2015. The more recent photo shows how the ice shelf and glacier have retreated substantially after melting.
The glacier drains ice from an area 35,440 square miles northeast of Greenland, which is about five percent of the Greenland Ice Sheet. If it were to melt completely, it holds enough water to make the global sea level rise by more than 18 inches. Already it has begun shedding billions of tons of ice into the far Northern Atlantic every year.
“North Greenland glaciers are changing rapidly,” said lead author Jeremie Mouginot of the University of California Irvine (UCI). “The glacier is now breaking up and calving high volumes of icebergs into the ocean, which will result in rising sea levels for decades to come.”
The image above shows the Zachariæ Isstrøm glacier in August 1999. (NASA Earth Observatory )
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