Greenland Ice Sheet Will get a Refresh

Ice covers about 1.7 million sq. kilometers (656,000 sq. miles) of Greenland, forming the most important ice sheet on Earth outdoors of Antarctica. Each summer time, its floor begins to soften underneath the heat of the Sun, intensified by the season’s lengthy daylight and generally additional enhanced by clouds and rain.

Greenland’s melting season normally runs from May to early September. The 2025 season was thought of “moderately intense,” rating nineteenth within the 47-year satellite tv for pc file for cumulative each day soften space as of late August, in accordance with an analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). This yr’s season featured an extended period of melting in a part of July and a pointy improve in heat and melting in mid-August.

The mid-August spike, which was preceded by important rainfall in some areas, peaked on August 21, when melting was noticed throughout practically 35 p.c of the ice sheet—a file for that date, in accordance with the NSIDC. These satellite tv for pc pictures present the ice sheet on that day (left) and practically two weeks later (proper), alongside a part of its southwestern edge about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of the capital metropolis of Nuuk (not proven). Both pictures had been captured by the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9.

In the August picture, an enormous expanse of grey, “dirty” ice is seen. The darker look is because of particles like black carbon and mud which have gathered on the ice sheet. As the snow and ice soften, these impurities are left behind, making the ice seem even darker. This darkening reduces the ice’s albedo—its potential to mirror daylight—inflicting it to soak up extra photo voltaic vitality and soften even sooner through the summer time months. Several ponds of light- and deep-blue meltwater dot the ice, and scattered clouds cowl a part of the ice sheet within the center and bottom-right of the scene.

By the date of the September picture, a recent layer of snow seems to cowl a lot of the soiled ice in addition to among the land. While main soften occasions have occurred as late as September in earlier years, they develop into much less possible this time of yr as temperatures sometimes drop with the Arctic’s diminishing daylight.

Scientists monitor seasonal melting annually as a result of it is likely one of the methods the large Greenland Ice Sheet loses ice. (Iceberg calving and melting on the base of tidewater glaciers additionally play a task.) As air and water temperatures have risen in latest many years, ice losses have outpaced ice beneficial properties, contributing to sea level rise.

NASA Earth Observatory pictures by Wanmei Liang, utilizing Landsat knowledge from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Kathryn Hansen.