Subglacial lake eruption reshapes Greenland ice

A hidden subglacial lake under Greenland1s Harder Glacier erupted, creating a crater and prompting a rethink of ice dynamics.

Buried Lake Erupts Under Greenland1 Ice, Unleashing A Colossal Crater

A hidden lake beneath the Harder Glacier erupted, sending a surge of water upward through thick ice and carving a crater nearly two square kilometers in size. Over ten days the lake released about 23.8 billion gallons (90 million cubic meters) of water, comparable to nine hours of Niagara Falls at full power. The resulting 270-foot deep crater and scattered ice blocks reshaped the immediate terrain and cracked the surrounding ice sheet, with researchers noting widespread disruption across roughly 2.3 square miles of ice.

To study the event, scientists used high-resolution 3D maps from ArcticDEM along with data from ESA CryoSat, the Sentinel satellites, and NASAs ICESat-2. The team, led by Dr. Jade Bowling of Lancaster University, says the incident overturns a long-held view of meltwater flow, showing water can force its way upward through solid ice and escape from subglacial lakes. The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, highlight gaps in climate models and the need to incorporate subglacial hydrology into predictions of Greenland1s ice behavior and sea-level rise.

The event points to a blind spot in how scientists model ice sheets. Subglacial hydrology can drive sudden, dramatic changes that are not captured by current simulations. As surface warming increases meltwater, more subglacial lakes could form and trigger explosive outbursts that speed up ice loss rather than slow it. That means projections of Greenland1s contribution to sea level might be too conservative if models don1t account for these hidden pathways.

The episode also emphasizes the power of satellite monitoring. Remote sensing makes it possible to observe hard-to-reach regions and to test ideas about how ice sheets respond to a warming climate. Researchers say building better models will require more data on the life cycle of subglacial lakes and how their behavior changes with seasons and warming trends.

Highlights

Ongoing observations will reveal how common such events are in a warming Arctic.