Scientists Launch 6-Week Greenland Mission to Probe Ice Melt Threat to Atlantic Currents
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jul 15
Scientists Launch 6-Week Greenland Mission to Probe Ice Melt Threat to Atlantic Currents
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jul 15
Summary
An international team will leave Essex on Thursday aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough for a six-week Greenland mission tracking how fast melting ice sheets are destabilizing nearby ocean circulation.
The GIANT project will gather new data from tidewater glaciers because researchers say current climate models still miss key glacier-ocean interactions that shape melt rates and freshwater release.
Autonomous vehicles, advanced sensors and AI-backed modelling will be used at sea, while a smaller team camps near a glacier to measure how the ice itself is behaving.
Scientists warn Greenland's freshwater runoff could disrupt the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre and linked current systems that help keep Western Europe relatively mild.
Dr Kelly Hogan said even within 10 years that shift could alter UK rainfall, intensify winter storms and hit farming, reservoirs and North Atlantic fish stocks.