Earth  ID: 3055

History of Jakobshavn Glacier Recession

Visualizations by Alex Kekesi Released on December 1, 2004
Since measurements of Jakobshavn Isbrae were first taken in 1850, the glacier has gradually receded, finally coming to rest at a certain point for the past 5 decades. However, from 1997 to 2003, the glacier has begun to recede again, this time almost doubling in speed. The finding is important for many reasons. For starters, as more ice moves from glaciers on land into the ocean, it raises sea levels. Jakobshavn Isbrae is Greenland's largest outlet glacier, draining 6.5 percent of Greenland's ice sheet area. The ice stream's speed-up and near-doubling of ice flow from land into the ocean has increased the rate of sea level rise by about .06 millimeters (about .002 inches) per year, or roughly 4 percent of the 20th century rate of sea level increase.
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Print resolution image showing the retreating front over the past 150 years.

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/dec/HQ_m04192_glacier_ice.html

Visualization Credits

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Waleed Abdalati (NASA/HQ): Scientist
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Writer
Sarah DeWitt (NASA/GSFC): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Science Paper:
Nature, Volume 432, 2 December 2004, pp. 608-610

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3055

Mission:
Landsat

Data Used:
Landsat-7/ETM+/Band Combination 3-2-1
1850, 1880, 1902, 1929, 1942, 1953, 2003
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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Dates of Data Used:
1850, 1880, 1902, 1929, 1942, 1953, 2003

This item is part of these series:
AGU 2004
Greenland

Keywords:
GCMD >> Location >> Greenland
SVS >> Jakobshavn
SVS >> Glaciers
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0