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The study, undertaken by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), suggests ice flow at the Petermann Glacier has sped up in recent years.

Petermann is one of three glaciers on the large island which has a so-called “ice tongue”, which stretches 43 miles into the Petermann Fjord. But satellite footage showing cracks eight miles from the glacier’s edge suggests an environmental changes which could mean an iceberg is likely to snap off the end, a process referred to as “calving”.

Researchers subsequently simulated the glacier’s observed ice transport in a computer model, and confirmed the loss of a large iceberg in August 2012 as the cause of the acceleration.



AWI ice modeller and study author Martin Rückamp said: “On their way to the sea, the glacier’s ice masses rub along the rock walls that enclose the fjord to the left and right.



“If a major iceberg breaks away from the end of the glacier’s tongue, it will reduce the tongue’s overall length, and with it, the route along which the ice masses scrape against the stone.



“This in turn limits the walls’ braking effect, so that the glacier begins flowing faster.”

Satellite images of the Petermann Glacier

The Petermann Glacier is one of the largest in Greenland

The simulation indicates a new calving event would produce a similar acceleration.



Mr Rückamp added: “We can’t predict when Petermann Glacier will calve again, or whether a calving event would actually calve along the cracks we identified in the ice tongue.



“But we can safely assume that, if it does come to a new calving event, the tongue will retreat considerably, and the rock’s stabilising effect will further decline.”



AWI glaciologist and co-author Niklas Neckel explained: “The satellite data shows that Petermann Glacier had a flow speed of roughly 1135 metres per year in the winter of 2016.



A large crack has been spotted in the Petermann Glacier

“That equates to an acceleration of about 10 percent in comparison to the winter of 2011, and we asked ourselves what was responsible for the increased speed.



“We now know that the loss of icebergs increases the glacier’s flow rate.



“In addition, we’ve observed that calving events on Petermann Glacier are happening more frequently.



“But the question of whether these changes are due to the warming atmosphere over Greenland, or to warmer seawater, isn’t an aspect that we could investigate using the satellite data.”



Greenland is close to the Arctic Circle