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Greenland Ice Stores Liquid Water Year-Round

Potential for Storing Meltwater Important for Calculating Sea-Level Rise

Researchers at the University of Utah have discovered a new aquifer in the Greenland Ice Sheet that holds liquid water all year long in the otherwise perpetually frozen winter landscape. The aquifer is extensive, covering 27,000 square miles.

The reservoir is known as a “perennial firn aquifer” because water persists within the firn – layers of snow and ice that don’t melt for at least one season. Researchers believe it figures significantly in understanding the contribution of snowmelt and ice melt to rising sea levels. (more…)

Glaciers Contribute Significant Iron to North Atlantic Ocean

By Guest PostApril 2, 2013Environmentben gready, bioavailable iron, biogeochemists, block of ice, chemist, crystaline f breier, downstream ecosystems, elizabeth b kujawinski, food web, fuels, glaciers, glaciologists, greenland ice sheet, growth of plankton, influx of iron, iron, liz kujawinski, matt charette, maya bhatia, meltwater runoff, moulins, n glacier outflow, north atlantic ocean, ocean, oceanographic institution, open ocean, paul henderson, phytoplankton, plankton blooms, river runoff, sarah b das, sediments, source, subglacial environment, whoi, woods hole

All living organisms rely on iron as an essential nutrient. In the ocean, iron’s abundance or scarcity means all the difference as it fuels the growth of plankton, the base of the ocean’s food web.

A new study by biogeochemists and glaciologists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) identifies a unexpectedly large source of iron to the North Atlantic – meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets, which may stimulate plankton growth during spring and summer. This source is likely to increase as melting of the Greenland ice sheet escalates under a warming climate. (more…)

Tag Archives: meltwater runoff

Greenland Ice Stores Liquid Water Year-Round

Glaciers Contribute Significant Iron to North Atlantic Ocean