Articles | Volume 16, issue 7
The Cryosphere, 16, 3021–3031, 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3021-2022
The Cryosphere, 16, 3021–3031, 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3021-2022
Research article
08 Aug 2022
Research article | 08 Aug 2022

Ongoing grounding line retreat and fracturing initiated at the Petermann Glacier ice shelf, Greenland, after 2016

Romain Millan et al.

Data sets

Ongoing grounding line retreat and fracturation initiated at the Petermann Glacier ice shelf, Greenland after 2016 Romain Millan, Jeremie Mouginot, Anna Derkacheva, Eric Rignot, Pietro Milillo, Enrico Ciraci, Luigi Dini, and Anders Bjørk https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6685621

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Short summary
We detect for the first time a dramatic retreat of the grounding line of Petermann Glacier, a major glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Using satellite data, we also observe a speedup of the glacier and a fracturing of the ice shelf. This sequence of events is coherent with ocean warming in this region and suggests that Petermann Glacier has initiated a phase of destabilization, which is of prime importance for the stability and future contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level rise.