I thought itd be a minute amount, but its a gobsmacking contribution to Greenlands annual ice mass.
Global warmingis melting Greenlands ice sheets at unprecedented rates.
In 2024, it shrank for the28th year in a row.
Glaciologist Alun Hubbard holding a section of a Greenland ice core.© Bruno Long
However, an atmospheric river that occurred in March 2022 challenges this notion.
A year later, she and Hubbard traveled to southeastern Greenland to investigate the matter.
Ice cores are natures record keepers, and this one documented almost 10 years worth of snow accumulation.
Its a rare opportunity to directly link such an event to Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance and dynamics.
Sadly, the Greenland Ice Sheet wont be saved by atmospheric rivers, Hubbard said.
Atmospheric rivers have a double-edged role in shaping Greenlandsas well as the wider Arcticsfutures, Bailey concluded.
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