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The result? An 270 foot (85-meter) deep crater formed, stretching across 0.77 square miles (2 square kilometers) of ice.<\/p>\n
And that was just the start.<\/p>\n
Understanding ice sheets \u2013 the basics<\/p>\n
The Greenland ice sheet is one of the most massive bodies of ice on Earth, second only to Antarctica<\/a>. It covers roughly 80% of Greenland\u2019s surface and holds enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by about 23 feet (7 meters) if it melted entirely. <\/p>\n What\u2019s alarming is that it\u2019s shifting, melting, and breaking down faster than scientists once expected. Warm ocean currents gnaw at it from below, while rising air temperatures accelerate melting from above.<\/p>\n The meltwater from Greenland is already contributing significantly to sea level rise, with rates that have more than doubled over the last few decades.<\/p>\n The freshwater flowing into the North Atlantic is also disrupting ocean circulation patterns, including the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC<\/a>), which helps regulate the climate from the equator to Europe.<\/p>\n Greenland ice shattered after lake burst<\/p>\n Farther downstream, researchers saw something even more shocking. A patch of once-smooth ice now looked like a war zone. <\/p>\n Deep cracks split the surface. Ice blocks, as tall as a five-story building 82 feet (25 meters), stood torn from the ground.<\/p>\n Water had scoured the area clean. The flood had carved through about 2.3 square miles \u2013 twice the size of New York\u2019s Central Park.<\/p>\n Dr. Jade Bowling from Lancaster University<\/a>, who led the study, was stunned when she first saw the data. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first saw this, because it was so unexpected, we thought there was an issue with our data. However, as we went deeper into our analysis, it became clear that what we were observing was the aftermath of a huge flood of water escaping from underneath the ice<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The study appeared in\u00a0Nature Geoscience. It sheds light on how little we truly know about the watery world beneath Greenland\u2019s ice.<\/p>\n Water surged upward through solid ice<\/p>\n Normally, scientists expect meltwater to flow down from the surface to the bottom of the ice<\/a> sheet. This flood flipped that idea. <\/p>\n Water traveled upward. It smashed through frozen layers as it forced its way out. This kind of movement wasn\u2019t in any model.<\/p>\n And the location? Even stranger. Models said the ice bed there should\u2019ve been frozen solid. But the lake still drained. The team thinks pressure cracked the ice bed<\/a> itself, opening a path for the water to shoot upward.<\/p>\n \u201cThe existence of subglacial lakes beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet is still a relatively recent discovery and, as our study shows, there is still much we don\u2019t know about how they evolve and how they can impact on the ice sheet system,\u201d Dr. Bowling explained.<\/p>\n Monitoring Greenland ice and lake bursts<\/p>\n To catch all this, the team turned to satellites. They used high-res 3D maps from the ArcticDEM<\/a> project. All of the data was combined from ESA\u2019s CryoSat<\/a>, Sentinel-1 and -2, and NASA\u2019s ICESat-2<\/a>. Without this satellite view, they wouldn\u2019t have known the event even happened.<\/p>\n \u201cThis research demonstrates the unique value of long-term satellite measurements of Earth\u2019s polar ice sheets<\/a> which, due to their vast size, would otherwise be impossible to monitor,\u201d noted Professor Mal McMillan.<\/p>\n \u201cSatellites represent an essential tool for monitoring the impacts of climate change, and provide critical information to build realistic models of how our planet may change in the future. This is something that all of us depend upon for building societal resilience and mitigating the impacts of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n Greenland lake and climate models<\/p>\n Climate models<\/a> didn\u2019t see this coming. They didn\u2019t expect frozen beds to fracture. They didn\u2019t predict water flowing upward. But it happened. And if melt events like this become more common, we need better models.<\/p>\n Surface melt is increasing as the planet warms. More meltwater could end up stored beneath the ice. More pressure could build. More cracks could form. More explosive floods could follow.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the control that subglacial hydrology<\/a> has on the dynamics of the ice sheet, it is critical that we continue to improve our understanding of these hidden, and poorly understood, hydrological processes,\u201d co-author Dr. Amber Leeson warned.<\/p>\n Global effort required<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t one lab\u2019s discovery. Scientists from the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. worked together. The U.K. Natural Environment Research Council, ESA, and UKRI<\/a> funded the work.<\/p>\n \u201cThis discovery is remarkable, and we\u2019re proud that our Science for Society 4D Greenland project has played a key role in making it possible,\u201d noted ESA\u2019s Diego Fernandez.<\/p>\n \u201cThis result adds to the body of knowledge we are establishing through the ESA Polar Science Cluster<\/a> on how the Arctic is changing in response to increased warming,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n Fernandez remarked that gaining insight into the Arctic\u2019s hydrology is crucial for understanding the ways in which it is changing, and for predicting how the ice sheet will contribute to global sea-level rise in a warming climate.\u201d<\/p>\n Future Greenland lake bursts<\/p>\n The ice sheet isn\u2019t just melting. It\u2019s breaking apart in ways we didn\u2019t expect. Meltwater isn\u2019t always calm. It can rip through solid ice and upend what we think we know.<\/p>\n Greenland just gave us a warning. We need to listen.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The study is published in the journal Nature Geoscience<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hidden lake beneath the Greenland ice sheet at Harder Glacier suddenly burst from deep beneath the ice.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-56065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Harder](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Greenland_Harder-Glacier_subglacial-meltwater-eruption_ESA_1s.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Harder Glacier in northern Greenland imaged by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission in 2024. Click image to enlarge. Credit: ESA<\/p>\n