Melting glaciers expose 2,500 kilometers new coastlines in Arctic

New research has found that as a result of rising temperatures causing the shrinking of glaciers, this has uncovered 2,500 kilometers of coastline and 35 previously uncharted islands in the Arctic between 2000 and 2020.

The study published in the journal Nature Climate Change analyzed satellite images of over 1,700 ice caps from Greenland, Alaska, the Canadian and Russian Arctic, Iceland, and Svalbard over two decades. According to an article by Sol, the findings show that 85% of these glaciers have retreated, exposing an average of 123 kilometers of new coastline annually.

Dr. Simon Cook, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Dundee, describes this phenomenon as “fundamentally altering the nature of Arctic landscapes.”

The study links the accelerated glacier melting to rising air and ocean temperatures. As global temperatures rise, glaciers are retreating more rapidly, particularly at their terminus, where the ice meets the sea. Sea-terminating glaciers, which flow into the ocean, often reveal new coastline as they melt.

The analysis, based on satellite images of 1,704 sea-terminating glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere, mapped 2,466 kilometers of coastline exposed between 2000 and 2020.

Researchers caution that these newly exposed coastlines are vulnerable to landslides, which could potentially trigger “dangerous tsunamis.”

By Nazrin Sadigova