‘Grand Canyon’ of Greenland Discovered Under Ice
The canyon predates the ice sheet that permanently covered Greenland about 1.8 million years ago, Siegert said. The channel curls across northwestern Greenland, ending in a deep fjord filled by Petermann Glacier. The find opens a whole new set of ideas to explore for scientists studying the glacier’s rapid retreat.
“If there is a channel that can transport subglacial meltwater all the way from the interior of Greenland to the coast, that flows right into Petermann Glacier, you change the whole water circulation there and have a big impact on stability,” Studinger said in an interview. “This is one of the biggest glaciers in Greenland and it produces a lot of big icebergs,” he said.
The new canyon isn’t the first amazing polar discovery from Bamber and his colleagues, who are experts in creating models of the polar regions, but it is one of the most incredible, they say. Siegert compared it to learning of Lake Vostok in Antarctica.
The Committee to Nuke Elysium 