{"id":63640,"date":"2025-08-12T09:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T09:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63640\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T09:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T09:33:13","slug":"this-glacier-loses-300000-gallons-per-second-and-nasa-just-revealed-its-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63640\/","title":{"rendered":"This glacier loses 300,000 gallons per second, and NASA just revealed its value"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"A<\/a>A photo of J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n glacial lake (Image source: Jeremy Bishop via Unsplash; cropped)<\/p>\n

Greenland\u2019s most active glacier releases more than 300,000 gallons (1,136 cubic meters) of fresh water into the sea every second during peak summer melt. Scientists, using a supercomputer-driven ocean ecosystem model, have discovered that this water helps pull up nutrients that could support a major part of the ecosystem, especially during times of supposed nutrient depletion.<\/p>\n

Jakobshavn Glacier \u2014 also known as Sermeq Kujalleq \u2014 is the most active glacier on Greenland\u2019s ice sheet. Located on the island\u2019s west coast, this glacier contributes a tremendous amount of freshwater to the sea in summer. The meltwater, being more buoyant than saltwater, rises, possibly pulling up nutrients like iron and nitrate with it to support the growth of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton, being the base of the marine food web, serve as food for krill and other grazers, who, in turn, support larger marine animals, including fish and whales. <\/p>\n

Nutrients in surface water usually decline in summer, as most of them are consumed by the spring phytoplankton bloom. Hence, the upwelling from glacial runoff would be important in supporting Greenland\u2019s phytoplankton in the summer. But confirming this process near Greenland\u2019s mile-thick ice sheet proved nearly impossible, as the coastal waters are choked with icebergs the size of city blocks. <\/p>\n

To overcome this challenge, NASA turned to advanced computer models to simulate the Jakobshavn Glacier\u2019s fjord. NASA harnessed the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean-Darwin (ECCO-Darwin) model \u2014 a model that utilizes decades-worth of data. Running this model on NASA\u2019s supercomputers revealed that glacial runoff could increase summer phytoplankton growth by 15-40%. <\/p>\n

More work is yet to be done, however, as confirmed by Dustin Carroll, an oceanographer affiliated with NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cWe reconstructed what\u2019s happening in one key system, but there\u2019s more than 250 such glaciers around Greenland,\u201d Carroll said.<\/p>\n

\"Chibuike<\/a>Chibuike Okpara<\/a> – Tech Writer – 109 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2024<\/p>\n

I have always been fascinated by technology and digital devices my entire life and even got addicted to it. I have always marveled at the intricacy of even the simplest digital devices and systems around us. I have been writing and publishing articles online for about 6 years now, just about a year ago, I found myself lost in the marvel of smartphones and laptops we have in our hands every day. I developed a passion for learning about new devices and technologies that come with them and at some point, I asked myself, “Why not get into writing tech articles?” It is useless to say I followed up the idea \u2014 it is evident. I am an open-minded individual who derives an infinite amount of joy from researching and discovering new information, I believe there is so much to learn and such a short life to live, so I put my time to good use \u2014 learning new things. I am a ‘bookworm’ of the internet and digital devices. When I am not writing, you will find me on my devices still, I do explore and admire the beauty of nature and creatures. I am a fast learner and quickly adapt to changes, always looking forward to new adventures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A photo of J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n glacial lake (Image source: Jeremy Bishop via Unsplash; cropped) Greenland\u2019s most active glacier releases…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[214,49,48,295,215,40950,207,307,213,206,216,212,208,209,66,40951,211,210],"class_list":["post-63640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-benchmarks","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-graphics-card","tag-jakobshavn-glacier","tag-laptop","tag-nasa","tag-netbook","tag-notebook","tag-processor","tag-reports","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-science","tag-sermeq-kujalleq","tag-test","tag-tests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}