This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Each summer, researchers from Hokkaido University returned to the Qaanaaq Ice Cap in northwestern Greenland to measure changes in the ice surface using aluminum poles drilled into the ice. Their 13-year record shows how the ice cap changed from 2012 to 2025.
Published in the Journal of Glaciology, the findings provide a rare long-term record of glacier change directly from the ground in northwestern Greenland. The researchers combined measurements of ice gain and loss in the region with data on ice velocity, surface elevation and weather conditions. Their results show that ice loss was not the same everywhere.
At six sites on the ice cap, between 200 and 1,000 meters (660 and 3,280 feet) above sea level, the researchers measured how much of the aluminum poles drilled into the ice remained visible above the surface. A longer exposed section meant that the ice surface had lowered. Their measurements show that the ice cap lost enough ice to produce a layer of water about 8 meters (26 feet) deep if melted and spread evenly across its surface.
GPS devices attached to the poles allowed the researchers to track how quickly the ice was moving. They measured surface elevation at 280 locations while recording local air temperatures and snow conditions. The team found that at Qaanaaq Glacier on the Qaanaaq Ice Cap, the surface had fallen by an average of 8.7 meters (29 feet) during the study period.
At lower elevations, the glacier lost ice more quickly than at higher elevations, and the rate of ice loss accelerated during the later years of the study. Warmer summers drove much of this change. "The most difficult part of the study was continuing these measurements for 13 years.
This record fills an important data gap in northwestern Greenland and provides a foundation for future glacier research in the region," said Shin Sugiyama of Hokkaido University's Institute of Low Temperature Science, who led the study. The researchers also discovered that the increase in ice loss could not be fully explained by surface melting and reduced snowfall. "About half of the increase in ice loss in the lower part of the glacier was linked to changes in ice movement.
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