Helheim glacier
| Helheim glacier | ||
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| location | Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq , Greenland | |
| width | ⌀ 6.4 km | |
| Coordinates | 66 ° 21 ′ N , 38 ° 12 ′ W | |
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| particularities | fastest flowing outlet glacier on Greenland's east coast | |
The Helheim Glacier is located on the southeast coast of Greenland . The glacier is named after Helheim , the realm of the Nordic goddess of the dead Hel , and is one of the largest in Greenland and the fastest flowing on the east coast of the island.
Glacier retreat
Between the years 2000 and 2005, the maximum flow velocity of the glacier increased from about 8 km per year to 11 km per year. At the same time, it became about 40 meters thinner between 2001 and 2003, and the edge in Helheim Fjord receded by 5 km between 1986 and 2006. The reasons are considered to be higher air and water temperatures in southeastern Greenland.
Between 2005 and 2019, the glacier melted another 10 km. The glacier calved several times, like in 2018 when an iceberg almost the size of Manhattan broke off. In the summer of 2019, NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland program investigated how ice melt is affected not only by rising air temperatures, but also by rising seawater temperatures. From an airplane, probes were lowered into the ice and sea water, which were supposed to transmit temperature and salinity. These indicated that the glacier was surrounded by warm water in its entire depth of over 600 m. This is unusual because there are usually temperature differences in different water depths. In the upper hundred meters, for example, there are normally colder water layers and, below that, warmer water layers that are richer in salt. The direct contact with warmer water at the entire end of the glacier should accelerate the melting rate even further.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gigantic ice break filmed , Spektrum.de, accessed on August 21, 2019
- ↑ a b At the bottom of a glacier in Greenland, climate scientists find troubling signs , cnn.com, accessed on August 21, 2019
- ↑ Helheim Glacier , United Nations Environment Program, accessed on August 21, 2019.
- ↑ On Greenland's giant vanishing Helheim Glacier, scientists gauge world's watery future , japantimes.co.jp, accessed on August 21, 2019 (English)