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This visualization shows a variety of data from the oceans and ice to help explain why the Jakobshavn glacier grew thicker and advanced between 2016 and 2017. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
This visualization shows a variety of data from the oceans and ice to help explain why the Jakobshavn glacier grew thicker and advanced between 2016 and 2017. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
Jakobshavn’s Interrupted Thinning
[25-Mar-2019] Jakobshavn Glacier is Greenland's largest and fastest moving glacier. Over the last 20 years, the glacier, known in Greenlandic as Sermeq Kujalleq, has retreated, sped up and thinned. The data shown here reveal that Jakobshavn's retreat has reversed. Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have linked these changes to cooling of the ocean waters that reach Jakobshavn after traveling around the southern tip of Greenland and reaching into Disko Bay. This visualization shows a variety of data from the oceans and ice to help explain why Jakobshavn glacier grew thicker and advanced between 2016 and 2017. At about 00:01:22, data from the ECCO ocean circulation model shows ocean currents carrying water around the southern tip of Greenland and up the west coast, where it eventually enters Disko Bay and reaches Jakboshavn glacier. Read the full description here. View the full-size version of this video at NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. Original Media » Click on the image to play the movie. Click on the Escape key or anywhere outside the shadowbox to close.