Glaciers might move slowly, but they have their dramatic moments. Scientists tracking glacial earthquakes in Greenland have managed to crack open the mysterious dynamics of calving icebergs.

The results, published in the journal Science, could help scientists track the loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is shrinking even faster than Antarctica.

Melting ice is changing the pressure on parts of the Earth's crust. Credit:Getty Images

Glacial earthquakes are caused by the calving of glacier ice - when a massive shard cracks like a gunshot and sloughs off the frozen wall.

Breathtaking as these events are, they're caused by very different dynamics than your standard earthquakes, which occur suddenly after stresses building in the ground finally release. Glacial earthquakes, by contrast, can take several minutes to play out.