Timelapse of the Leconte Glacier during the summer
Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Oregon is a timelapse of images that show the LeConte Glacier rapidly flowing from March 31 to August 8, 2016.
As the summer progresses, the glacier is moving from right to left, while the ice front is retreating backwards.
A team of scientists led by oceanographer Dave Sutherland used a new method to analyze the behavior of the glacier.
The study revealed that underwater melting is occurring at a faster rate than what has been accounted for in current models.
“We measured both the ocean properties in front of the glacier and the melt rates, and we found that they are not related in the way we expected,” said study co-author Rebecca H. Jackson. “These two sets of measurements show that melt rates are significantly, sometimes up to a factor of 100, higher than existing theory would predict.”
Video Credit: Jason Amundson, University of Alaska Southeast