Early warning system deployed to monitor Greenland ice melt

Scientists are deploying an early warning system to closely monitor how rapidly the Greenland ice sheet is melting and help predict potential climate tipping points.

For the first time, a comprehensive network of seismic sensors will be installed in Greenland to ‘listen’ to the vibrations caused by flowing water.

The system will allow scientists to continuously monitor meltwater runoff from major glacier outlets in almost real time.

Measurements currently provided by conventional monitoring systems tend to be sporadic as well as expensive, while the new seismic instruments are low-cost, less prone to damage and easier to deploy.

Rising sea levels

Meltwater runoff from the Greenland ice sheet is a significant and increasing contributor to rising sea levels.

It also impacts ice flow by controlling how easily the ice slides and, once it enters the ocean, can affect currents and marine ecosystems.

The ‘Greenland Runoff Monitoring from Passive Seismology’ (GRuMPS) is led by the University of Sheffield and brings together a team of international glaciologists including Dr Samuel Doyle, a lecturer at Aberystwyth University.

Dr Doyle, who has carried out extensive research on the Greenland Ice Sheet, said: “I’m looking forward to getting the first of many seismometers deployed in our efforts to improve the monitoring of glacier runoff in Greenland. These measurements are critical if we are to predict the response of ocean currents to the increasing input of freshwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet.”

Project leader Professor Stephen Livingstone from the University of Sheffield’s School of Geography and Planning, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this funding and can’t wait to get the project started. Our observations will provide critical inputs for climate, ice sheet and ocean models used to simulate climate tipping points.”

Tipping points

The GRuMPS project is part of a wider £81m funding programme by the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) entitled Forecasting Tipping Points, which brings together 27 international research teams in a collaborative effort to detect the earliest signs of climate tipping points.

A climate tipping point is a threshold beyond which certain ecosystems or planetary processes begin to shift from one stable state to another, triggering dramatic and often self-reinforcing changes in the climate system.

Examples of this might include meltwater runoff affecting the Atlantic Ocean’s main ocean current system, which could in turn substantially cool Northern Europe.