City-sized chunk breaks off Greenland’s largest remaining ice shelf

The region has warmed by around 3C since 1980 and record-breaking temperatures have been observed this year

A vast chunk of ice has broken off the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic.  

Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier, or 79N, in north-east Greenland has lost a section of about 42 square miles (110 sq km), roughly half the size of Edinburgh.  Satellite images reveal the chunk is disintegrating into smaller and smaller pieces.

The ice shelf lost more than 50 sq km in both 2018 and 2019.

Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden is the floating end of the increasingly unstable Northeast Greenland Ice Stream.  The 79N glacier has a floating glacier tongue that splits in two. The smaller section, known as the Spalte glacier, is what has detached. 

Dr Jenny Turton, researcher at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany, investigates the impact of the climate crisis on glaciers.

“The last few years have been incredibly warm in northeast Greenland. We had very early melt onset in 2019 linked to the heatwave across Europe and Greenland,” Dr Turton said. 

“The atmosphere in this region has warmed by approximately 3C since 1980 and record-breaking temperatures have been observed in 2019 and 2020."  

Hotter summers in the region have led to increased melting of the glacier and ice sheet. The warmer temperatures also breaks down the sea ice along Greenland’s coastline, which forms a barrier to hold back glacier ice. Less sea ice can lead to more calving of glaciers.

Environmental activists and climate scientists sounded the alarm once again on how global heating is severely impacting the polar regions.

The northern tributary of the Arctic’s largest remaining ice shelf showing disintegration at the Spalte glacier (EU Copernicus Sentinel-2B image/GEUS)

Laura Meller, a Greenpeace campaigner who is currently on the non-profit’s ship Arctic Sunrise at the edge of the sea ice, said: “As the sea ice minimum in the Arctic is set to be one of the lowest ever recorded, another massive chunk of vital sea ice has fallen into the ocean. This is yet another alarm bell being rung by the climate crisis in a rapidly heating Arctic.

"We came to the ice edge to show what’s at stake and demand world leaders hear the alarm. 

“They must act to curb emissions and create a network of ocean sanctuaries covering 30 per cent of our blue planet if we are serious about tackling the climate emergency.”

Dr. Niels J. Korsgaard, researcher at The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), said: “Temperatures in the Arctic are rising faster than the global average. More heat is available from air and ocean to melt away the bottom and surface of ice shelves, and the thinning ice shelves are more susceptible to breaking up. 

"We saw this with Zachariae Glacier, this summer with Milne Ice Shelf in Canada, and now Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier is losing parts of its ice shelf as well."