Warm water in the Greenland Ice Melt

Based on recent research, the water from the warmer parts of the ocean are found penetrating into the fjord is generally cool on the coast of Greenland. Warm water is partially melt glaciers and the speed continues to increase in recent years.

Fjord is a steep valley carved by glaciers over millions of years. The Greenland ice sheet that has a thickness of 3.2 kilometers wide and has a size of about Mexico, having lost its mass with high speed. Layer of ice that flows out through the glacier-fjord in the fjord.

"This is the first time we see this as warm water in each fjord in Greenland," said Fiamma Straneo, oseanografer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), as quoted by LiveScience, October 18, 2010.

A team of researchers from WHOI and the University of Maine made two observations on Sermilik Fjord, a large glacier fjord in eastern Greenland in July through September 2008. Fjord with a length of about 100 kilometers connecting the Helheim glacier and Irminger Sea. Far below Sermilik Fjord, researchers found subtropical water as warm as 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius).

"Water is flowing through the fjord subtropical very quickly, so that they can transmit heat and promote melting of glaciers," said Straneo.
  
The team are also doing reconstruction on seasonal temperatures in the region using data collected 19 sensors that are fitted with temperature recorders and satellite-based depth.

From the data collected, it turns out to warm waters in the region in July to December, and the warm water below the fjord is present throughout the year.

"This is the first survey of extensions to the fjord-fjord in Greenland and show how the warm water circulates and how large circulation," said Straneo. "Changes in ocean circulation in the North Atlantic area quickly spread to the glacier. Not in a matter of years, but only in a matter of months. The effect is very fast.