Shocking Awareness – Hundreds of Moulins in Greenland
Welcome back!
A shocking display of nature was revealed when a group of scientists and journalists recently flew over and landed on the Greenland ice cap at the time of maximum ice melt. What they beheld were hundreds, and possibly thousands of moulins — a massive hole, an almost vertical shaft in a glacier, created by meltwater and debris boring into a crack in the surface of the ice through which millions of gallons of melt water cascade through to the rock below. The water has the effect of lubricating the glaciers so they move at 3 times the rate they did previously.
Meltwater flowing into a moulin of the Greenland ice sheet. Photo NASA
Some of the moulins in Greenland are so colossal that they compare to Niagara Falls in size. The scientists on the expedition — world experts on ice and Greenland — were nearly alarmed. Ilulissat, Greenland was once a concentration for Innuit hunters, but there is now so little ice that the dog sleds are in danger of falling through even in the heart of winter.
But the lack of sea ice isn’t what worries scientists as much as the Greenland ice cap which is melting at such a rapid rate that it’s triggering earthquakes, as chunks of ice several cubic kilometers in size break up which could affect coastal zones across the world.
The glacier at Ilulissat — believed to have produced the iceberg which sank the Titanic — is currently flowing 3 times faster into the sea than it was 10 years ago.
How Greenland’s Ice Sheet Melts and Moves
Glaciological schematic features of the ice sheet including surface lakes, crevasses, and large moulins that stretch up to 10 meters in diameter and drain to the bedrock. Meltwater descends through the moulins, down to the bedrock, contributing to the movement of the ice sheet. The Equilibrium Line (EQ LINE), similar to a snow line on the glacier, is at about 1200 meters (3940 feet) elevation in west-central Greenland.
In the ablation zone below the EQ LINE, all the winter snow plus some of the ice flowing from higher elevations melts each summer. Later in the season, melt lakes also form above the equilibrium line. The ‘V’ indicates the velocity of the movement of the ice, some of which is from sliding over the bedrock. Info and photo credit: NASA
Professor Robert Correll, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, from Washington told reporter Paul Brown from the Guardian (and author of several books on the environment), “We have seen a massive acceleration of the speed with which these glaciers are moving into the sea. The ice is moving at 2 meters an hour on a front 5 kilometers long and 1,500 meters deep. “That means that this one glacier puts enough fresh water into the sea in one day to provide drinking water for a city the size New York or London for a year.”
Correll said newly invented ice penetrating radar illustrated that the melt water was pouring through to the bottom of the glacier creating a meltwater lake 500 meters (1642 feet) deep causing the glacier “to float on land.” These meltwater rivers lubricate the glacier, like applying oil to a surface and causing it to slide into the sea, creating a massive acceleration which could be catastrophic.
The glacier is now moving at 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) a year into the sea although in periodic surges it moves even faster. He has seen a surge, which he had measured as moving 5 kilometers (3 miles) in 90 minutes.
Based on this, it was stated if all of Greenland were to melt, which had previously been claimed would take thousands of years could now be merely hundreds and even less. Sea level round the world would rise 7 meters, without any contribution from the Antarctic, the glaciers of Alaska, the Rockies, the Himalayas, or the ocean water expanding as it warms.
A century ago the sea began to rise one millimeter a year, 20 years ago it had reached 2 millimeters and this century it has risen to 3 millimeters.
Researchers claim what happens to Greenland, with 10% of land based ice isn’t necessarily what matters as much as in Antarctica. No reports to date indicate the Antarctic icecap is losing mass, and some reports suggest Antarctica is gaining ice mass. Small percentage increases in Antarctic ice mass will cancel out anything happening in Greenland. Less than 1% of land-based ice is outside of Greenland or Antarctica. Thermal expansion of the ocean may also be offset by increased evaporation.
Sources: Ecoworld, Paul Brown and NASA
Tags:environment Greenland ice caps ice mass ice melt ice sheet icecap icesheet melt water meltwater moulin moulins science water melt
Thanks for the Information. That’s weird
Ever hear of the Albido effect? The albedo effect is defined as the ratio of the intensity of the outgoing radiation to the incident radiation. Which means (in global warming terms) that the more fresh water there is (in total)along with warmer temperatures,the more there will be increased evaporation. Evaporation means clouds. Clouds mean more storms and rain. Clouds, storms and rain have a combined effect. They radiate the Sun’s energy back out into space. They also cleanse the atmosphere. Thus cooling the Earth. Lightning in these storms create gobs of negative ions. These (-)ions tend to cling to the positive charged carbon dioxide molecules and other pollutants. In turn washing these into the oceans where they are absorbed and neutralized. Algae and plankton both feed on Carbon dioxide in various degrees. They’ll thrive. Which means more food for whales and fish. Things will balance out. They always do.
Manmade global warming is as much a religion as any other. It’s not based on pure science. It’s based on consensus. Consensus has told us before that tomatoes, fat, and coffee were all deadly to us. It told us that the Earth was cooling dangerously just 3 decades ago. Now science proves all of these assertions wrong.
I guess it’s a matter of who you trust more. Do you trust Al Gore and the far left Godless “Chicken Littles”?
(who will just raise your taxes as they claim the “Sky is Falling”) Or do you trust the Creator of the universe and the infinite wonders that he/she created?
Al Gore and his ilk Tax and spend. The Creator has only been accused of saving and redeeming.
The Greenlanders should be collecting that runoff and selling it to water starved nations. Bottled water sells for almost as much as gasoline. I see dollar signs there.
One things for sure though, if I was downslope of those Greenland glaciers and between them and the sea,…..I’d get the “Hell” out of there.
Nitropuppy, you are among my favorite regular readers whose visits I always look forward to and thoroughly enjoy. You often have a good laugh to share, and shed your in-depth tidbits of info on the most unexpected subjects. Thanks for being a great part of this site
Well thanks Deb. You’re a sweetheart for saying that. Some may disagree with me at times and I most certainly could be wrong in some of my assertions. Which I’ll happily admit to (when proven) when and if that times comes.
But the real thanks should go to you and the diligent hard work you do on your fascinating blogs. It is obvious that you pour your heart into your work. And you’re one of the few lucky people who has found a job to do in where your passions lay. Most aren’t so lucky. Cudo’s to you. Thank you for allowing your visitors and I to comment and even jest on occasion. And as the classic line in the “Terminator” quotes, “I’ll be back”.
Wow, what can I say to that, but thank you! Always look forward to your return
Fascinating as always Deborah. I was unaware of the theory that the antarctic may be gaining mass – I just hope it takes its time in reaching Melbourne!
Whether or not the earth self corrects, Nitropuppy, I don’t think we should take the risk of this not happening or it not happening soon enough to save us from disaster.
Any measures that are taken now are going to be beneficial to the world in other ways too e.g. in reducing our usage of depleting natural resources.
Saying that I must go turn some lights off around here
Thanks Sue, and always great having you around too
Love the new avatar … playing Santa’s helper this year?
Hi all,
I fell upon your article on Moulins in the Artic since I am conducting an ‘internet’ survey on the occurrence of Moulins as well in the Antarctic…. effectively there are huge melting pots in the South pole Inlandsis seen from space & representing huge inland seas located below the apparently virgin ice. I believe we should be seeing Moulins as well there since on 2000m high Mt Anderson the ice was observed melting and water was running down the Northern faces
The comments from you readers are short of the mark though, since based on accepted & indeed consensus views of what the History of Earth & Solar system etc is. One of the dogmas underlying present Geological creeds is the one of stability of Earth on present orbit … since alleged ‘creation’ or alternatively ‘accretion’ at present position on the Ecliptic. I defend another view which demonstrates the drift of each planet from Mother star & our Sun indeed, and the passing through the biological range, in which we are now ! However as a result of Planet Warming and the consecutive unbalance of such within the Cosmic Pressure Environment it fall within sense that equilibrium must be reached at the cost of moving away towards lower pressure values ( just like a balloon rising in the atmosphere) . As a result the Earth rotation will increase and in consequence De Coriolis will fall in step leading to increase vortex speed of Tornadoes & Cyclones… and this what can be observed in the world now since top speed of Hurricanes reach 350 km/h and top speed of Tornadoes 600 km/h, while in 2000 both speed did not pass 300 & 500 km/h respectively.
I am afraid that the whole Geology & interpretation of observed Relief & other Earth phenomena cannot be interpreted correctly except by minds who have freed themselves from the Universities short minded & tunnel vision conditioning.
Incidentally that permanent research of Equilibrium of the each planet is the cause of Planetary Expansion & indeed rightly seen here by sharp & aware minds as Earth Expansion, but which the retards plaguing the profession interpret as Plate Tectonic aka Continental Drift of Wegener’s infamous memory. Of course the motor of such Planetary Expansion will not be discussed here as well as the reason for the Earth ‘Internal Fire’ as called by the infantile minds & poorly trained Rock Surveyors masquerading the world over as Geologists ( Dr Stuart Weinstein of Hawaii, Dr Ron Yates of Cincinnati, Dr David Stuart Tyrwhitt of South Yarra etc ) ! Let it be known for your guidance that the Local Gradient of Cosmic Pressure is a variable and as consequence all present Physics constants are in fact variables, with the immediate conclusion that theories concerning both our Universe & its operation are false … NO LIGHT IN THE UNIVERSE since Light is a particularity of matter … no matter, no light hence !
Such approach being part of the True Geology based on a new Unifying concept called the UPL or Universal Pressure Law !
Yours faithtully
Sir Jean-Paul Turcaud
Australia Mining Pioneer
Discoverer of Telfer, Nifty & Kintyre mines in the Great Sandy Desert
Exploration Geologist & Offshore Consultant
Founder of the True Geology
~ Ignorance is the Cosmic Sin, the One never Forgiven ~
for background info.
http://www.tnet.com.au/~warrigal/grule.html
http://users.indigo.net.au/don/tel/index.html
http://members.iimetro.com.au/~hubbca/turcaud.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s28534.htm
Wow, thanks for your informative and insightful comment Sir Jean-Paul, as well as the links.
I can imagine all this melting…
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.