Tracking Warm Water Up North

Greenlander Arqaluk Jørgensen and WHOI researchers Fiamma Straneo (middle) and Dave Sutherland (right) prepare for a day trip into Sermilik Fjord in East Greenland in 2008. They found subtropical water as warm as 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) circulating into the fjord. Waters from warmer latitudes are increasingly reaching Greenland’s glaciers, driving melting and likely triggering an acceleration of ice loss. While melting due to warmer temperatures is known to occur, scientists are just beginning to learn more about the ocean’s impact—in particular, the influence of currents—on the ice sheet.(Photo by Jim Ryder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)