Greenland Floating Upwards

Scientists using GPS measurements from stations on the Greenland bedrock since 2001 have determined that Greenland is indeed floating upwards at up to 4 centimeters (~1.6 inches) per year, and that rise has dramatically accelerated since 2004.

What is causing this? According to the study, posted on NewScientist, it is the shrinking Greenland ice cap. "The Earth is elastic and if you put a load on top of it, then the surface will move down; if you remove the load, then the surface will start rising again," explains Shfaqat Khan of the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen.

Khan and his team have determined that the southeastern tip of Greenland is most definitely rising upwards and that rise has clearly accelerated over the past few years. Khan is still not quite sure what caused the acceleration, "but it could be that more melt water is flowing into crevasses which is making the glaciers flow into the ocean faster," said Khan. (Remember the moulin piece I blogged about recently.) They also calculated that some of the ice is also lost through melting.