Greenland's peripheral glaciers are retreating at an accelerated rate, according to a study conducted by Northwestern University and the University of Copenhagen. The research, which was published in Nature Climate Change, indicates that the rate of retreat has doubled in the 21st century compared to the 20th century.
The study utilized a combination of satellite images and historical aerial photographs to document changes in over 1,000 glaciers over the past 130 years. These photographs, taken by Danish pilots in the 1930s and rediscovered 15 years ago, were used to reconstruct the movement of Greenland's coastal glaciers.
In addition to the accelerated retreat of the peripheral glaciers, the study also found that the ice shelves have shrunk in volume by more than 35 percent since 1978. This research builds on the work of Anders Bjork, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Copenhagen.
The Arctic region, where Greenland is located, has warmed four times faster than the rest of the world. This warming has led to significant changes, including rainfall at the summit of Greenland for the first time on record. Over the past twenty years, melting glaciers have contributed to about 21% of observed sea level rise.
However, there is a contradiction in the rate of melting reported by different sources. While the majority of sources report a doubling of the retreat rate, one source claims that the melting has increased fivefold in the past 20 years. This discrepancy needs further investigation and confirmation from additional studies.