Definitely, the glaciers in Greenland are retreating," that's the view of Bo Vinther, Glaciologist, Centre for Ice and Climate, University of Copenhagen.
"We see that ice strings are increasing their velocity. And thereby they are producing more icebergs out into the ocean," says Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Coordinator, WATERundertheICE project.
Global warming is often blamed as the cause of Greenland's unstoppable melting.
But lately researchers have identified another unexpected suspect.
"The clues are hidden here underneath the ice," says Lars Berg Larsen, Glaciologist, NEEM Field Operations Office, University of Copenhagen.
Summertime is the peak season for glaciologists in West Greenland.
Danish glaciologist Bo Vinther drives to Russell Glacier, a huge ice mass that is quietly melting under rising temperatures.
But scientists suspect another mysterious factor also plays a role in this rapid, constant melting.
"We are here right at the ice margins. This is where the Greenland's ice sheets terminates here, the very edge of the big Greenland ice sheet that stretches some 1000 kilometres to the East out there.
'What we have observed is that when we have water underneath the ice sheet, then the ice is flowing much, much faster than if you have the ice frozen to the bedrock underneath. So it is really important to investigate this water under the ice, these physical processes going on at the very bed of the ice, so we are better able to model them and predict the ice flow in the future," he explains.
