Greenland's glaciers are cracking: scientists reveal the potential dangers this poses to humanity.

Greenland may be losing ice faster than previously thought. Scientists have identified a factor that could alter earlier predictions for the worse for humanity.

This factor may be the cracks in the glaciers. A new study has been published in the journal Nature Geoscience

Previously, it was believed that the Greenland ice sheet primarily shrinks due to the ice's contact with warm air and the calving of icebergs in coastal areas. However, researchers are now focusing on how glacier cracking weakens the ice structure and increases the area of contact with warm surface water. This water can also infiltrate beneath the glaciers, reducing friction and thus accelerating their movement.

While similar studies have been conducted before, they were far less extensive and only addressed a specific part of the island. Now, scientists have utilized high-precision topographic models of the entire island from 2016 and 2021 and concluded that the total volume of cracks has increased by 4.3%, although this figure remains within the margin of error and could be attributed to measurement inaccuracies. However, in certain regions, this process is occurring much faster than in others.

A significant increase in cracking is observed in areas where ice movement is accelerating — the southeast (+25.3%), central-east (+15-20%), and northwest (+10-15%). Meanwhile, in the central-west region, the volume of cracks has decreased by 14.2%, which is linked to the slowdown of the Jakobshavn glacier. However, it is expected to accelerate in the coming years.

As mentioned earlier, scientists believe that the increase in cracks accelerates the loss of ice from Greenland. Furthermore, the new research indicates that this occurs not smoothly, but in jumps.

This means that the global ocean level may rise faster than we previously thought, posing a potential threat to coastal cities. Already, Greenland is losing 280 billion tons of ice annually, and new calculations suggest that this figure could change significantly and abruptly.

As reported earlier, under the Antarctic ice, entire "rivers" have been discovered that accelerate the melting of the continent. The largest of these has already extended over a thousand kilometers.