Petermann Glacier Has Grown 3km Since 2010

In 2010, our friends got hysterical about a block of ice which calved off the Petermann Glacier in Greenland. Since then, the glacier has grown 3km.

ScreenHunter_1452 Oct. 13 11.29

EOSDIS Worldview (Alpha)

MODIS Studies of Greenland

About Tony Heller

Just having fun
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

6 Responses to Petermann Glacier Has Grown 3km Since 2010

  1. lanceap says:

    This will not do!!! Quick….adjust the data…er image…

    So this glacier is doing its normal thing… advancing… breaking off chunks…repeat…I guess anything for “the cause”

  2. Billy Liar says:

    Since the 2010 calving was the largest single area loss observed for Greenland it is reasonable to assume it last calved a big chunk before the satellite era; let’s say 1980. In that case may carry on growing for another 20+ years before another big chunk breaks off.

    The chunk that broke off in 2010 was 275 km² and about 20km long so that fits with about 14 years of growth at the current rate.

    My guess is there won’t be any more big chunks calving for at least 10 more years.

  3. You might want to double check this. There was another large calving event in 2012. It was not not quite as large as the 2010 event. Both chunks broke off at lines of weakness that were clearly visible travelling down the glacier in aerial photographs dating back to 2000 (I haven’t been able to find anything older).

    Last time I was able to look at it on the ‘Arctic.io’ site* there was a lot of sea ice disguising the actual terminus of the glacier. The glacier itself has marked longitudinal stripes, the sea ice does not.

    *The area has been hidden by cloud for most of the past arctic summer, and then the ‘Arctic.io’ MODIS photo mosaic disappeared for most of August/September – just when things were getting intersting.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *