Science
Researchers map nearly two thousand subglacial valleys beneath Greenland ice sheet
A study led by NASA mapped 1,943 bedrock valleys under the ice sheet, NASA News reports.
The short version
- Researchers identified 1,943 subglacial valleys beneath Greenland's ice sheet using Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis.[NASA News]
- Around one-third of the bedrock valleys are newly discovered, and many known valleys extend hundreds of kilometers farther inland than previous maps showed.[NASA News]
- Long, straight valleys in west-central Greenland suggest unexplained tectonic influence, while wide branching angles point to ancient groundwater networks.[NASA News]
- The findings were detailed in a study published in Geophysical Research Letters to better understand bedrock terrain.[NASA News]
Key facts
- The Greenland Ice Sheet covers 1.7 million square kilometers and reaches a thickness of more than 3 kilometers.[NASA News]
- Researchers mapped 1,943 subglacial valleys using Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis, identifying roughly one-third of them for the first time.[NASA News]
- Roughly half of the valleys on the existing BedMachine Greenland map extend farther inland than previously recognized, sometimes by hundreds of kilometers.[NASA News]
- Wide branching angles indicate an ancient groundwater network likely eroded the bedrock prior to the ice sheet's formation.[NASA News]
What remains uncertain
- The cause of long, straight, consistently aligned valleys in west-central Greenland remains unresolved and is described by researchers as a riddle.[NASA News]
Sources
Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.