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View of the fjord and front of the Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat glacier in southern Greenland. <\/p>\n
Andreas Vieli, University of Zurich <\/p>\n
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The breaking off of large chunks of ice from glaciers accelerates the melting of the Arctic ice sheet in Greenland. This has been measured for the first time by an international research team using fibre-optic technology, which is also used to study Swiss glaciers.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
This content was published on <\/p>\n
August 20, 2025 – 09:00\n<\/p>\n
Greenland\u2019s ice sheet is melting at an increasingly rapid pace. Since 2002, it has lost an average of around 270 billion tonnes of ice per yearExternal link<\/a>, causing a sea-level rise of nearly two centimetres.\u00a0<\/p>\n The calving of large ice blocks is one of the most visible effects of ice-sheet mass loss caused by climate change. But it\u2019s also a phenomenon that itself further intensifies melting: when an iceberg collapses into the sea, it brings warmer water to the surface, which in turn accelerates the melting process.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the discovery made by an international research team led by the universities of Zurich and Washington, which for the first time measured how ice break-up speeds up the retreat of Greenland\u2019s Arctic ice sheet. The study, part of the Swiss Polar Institute\u2019s GreenFjordExternal link<\/a> project, was published on August 13 in\u202fNatureExternal link<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe now better understand what happens when ice falls into the sea: it not only breaks off, but also increases melting below the water\u2019s surface,\u201d Andreas Vieli, professor of glaciology at the University of Zurich and co-author of the study, told Swissinfo.\u00a0<\/p>\n These observations help improve our understanding of Greenland\u2019s ice sheet, which covers an area about 40 times the size of Switzerland. It\u2019s a fragile system whose complete melting would have serious consequences for ocean currents, global climate, and coastal regions around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n >> Glacier melting has global consequences:\u00a0<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Climate solutions\n <\/p>\n Why melting glaciers affect us all <\/p>\n Alpine glaciers could disappear by the end of the century. The consequences will be felt not only in the Swiss Alps but all over the planet. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read more: Why melting glaciers affect us all Giant waves bring warm water to the surface\u00a0<\/p>\n The Zurich and Washington researchers studied the effects of iceberg calving at the Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat glacier, located in a fjord in southern Greenland. Around 3.6 cubic kilometres of ice break off from the glacier each year \u2013 nearly three times the volume of the Rh\u00f4ne Glacier in the Swiss Alps.\u00a0<\/p>\n The impact of ice falling into the sea initially generates surface waves, similar to tsunamis, that stir the upper part of the water column. Later, it also causes deep waves, invisible to the human eye. These can be as tall as skyscrapers and carry warm water from the ocean floor to the surface, intensifying melting and erosion at the glacier front.\u00a0<\/p>\n >> Watch the spectacular footage of ice breaking off a glacier in Greenland:\u00a0<\/p>\n External Content <\/p>\n Dominik Gr\u00e4ff, a researcher at the University of Washington and lead author of the study, compares the process to ice cubes melting in a hot drink. If you don\u2019t stir the drink, a layer of cold water forms around the cube, insulating it from the warmer liquid. But if you stir it, that layer is disrupted and the cube melts much faster.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the case of Greenland\u2019s ice sheet, about half of the current mass loss is due to underwater melting and iceberg calving, says Vieli.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fibre optics on the seafloor\u00a0<\/p>\n To measure what happens at depth, the researchers laid a ten-kilometre-long fibre-optic cable on the seafloor. Using a technology called Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), they were able to record changes in the fibre \u2013 stretching or compression \u2013 caused by underwater waves.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe fibre-optic cable allowed us to measure this incredible calving multiplier effect, which wasn\u2019t possible before,\u201d Gr\u00e4ff is quoted as saying in a University of Zurich press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two researchers lower the fibre-optic cable to the seabed to take measurements. <\/p>\n Dominik Gr\u00e4ff, University of Washington <\/p>\n The significance of seawater and iceberg calving dynamics has long been known. However, measuring these processes directly on site presents considerable challenges, as the large number of icebergs in the fjords poses a constant risk from falling ice blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moreover, conventional satellite-based remote-sensing methods cannot penetrate below the water\u2019s surface, where glacier-seawater interactions occur, Vieli points out. \u201cThanks to the fibre-optic cable, it\u2019s as if we had a thousand sensors beneath the glacier front.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Technology used on Swiss glaciers\u00a0<\/p>\n Using fibre optics to study glaciers is a relatively recent technique. Researchers in Switzerland and other mountainous regions like Alaska have begun using it to detect micro-vibrations in glaciers<\/a> and potential early signs of instability.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFiber optics allow us to detect extremely small seismic events, which other technologies could not measure,\u201d said Thomas Hudson, a seismologist at the Swiss federal technology institute ETH Zurich, in an interview<\/a> with Swissinfo.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2023, Hudson installed 1.2 kilometres of fibre-optic cable on the Gorner Glacier in Switzerland, detecting thousands of seismic waves. These vibrations can provide insights into changes within the ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n >> Fibre optic research projects in Switzerland are opening up new possibilities for monitoring glaciers and natural hazards:\u00a0<\/p>\n \n More<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Glaciers & permafrost\n <\/p>\n Fibre optics on glaciers open new frontiers for natural disaster predictions <\/p>\n This content was published on <\/p>\n Jun 29, 2025 <\/p>\n The fibre-optic cables we use to surf the Internet and make phone calls could help us predict a landslide or the collapse of a glacier. <\/p>\n![\"Alpine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/6e01a030bcc05373e22737837e8585cb-03--swi-climate-change-desktop-data.jpg\")
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