EZ vlog Beckwith climate science lecture in previous post shortened to 2 min simple video- WATCH & READ at Heating Planet blog

Greenland Iceberg Calving Secrets: Underwater Waves Accelerating Ice Melt![Ana Gabriel Ritmos y Sentimientos Description Welcome to your ultimate destination for the latest entertainment and sports news from USA since 2021]

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Beckwith vlog in previous post  referenced https://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2025/11/cascading-feedback-loops-science-vlog.html#google_vignette

TRANSCRIPT

Have you Ever seen those incredible videos of giant icebergs crashing into the ocean? It's called calving. And while it looks amazing, it's a major reason why Greenland's ice sheet is disappearing so quickly. But what happens asterisk after asterisk the big splash. 

For the first time, scientists have been able to see what's going on deep beneath the surface. And what they found is a game changer. An international team led by the University of Zurich and the University of Washington went to a fastmoving glacier in southern Greenland. This glacier dumps nearly 4 cubic kilm of ice into the ocean every year. 

To study it, they laid a  km long fiber optic cable on the seafloor right in front of the glacier. This cable acts like a super sensitive microphone, picking up even the tiniest vibrations in the water. 

When a massive piece of ice breaks off and crashes down, it creates a tsunami-l like wave on the surface. But the real action is happening underwater. 

he team discovered that these calving events also generate enormous internal waves hidden from sight. These waves, which can be as tall as skyscrapers, travel between layers of water with different densities. Colder, fresh melt water on top and warmer, saltier ocean water below. 

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These powerful underwater waves churn the ocean for hours, long after the surface has calmed down. They act like giant mixers, constantly pushing warmer, denser sea water up against the glacier's base. This warm water eats away at the ice from below, making the glacier's edge unstable and triggering even more calving. It's a vicious cycle, a multiplier effect that dramatically speeds up ice loss. 

Before this, scientists knew warm water was a problem. But it was almost impossible to measure these underwater interactions directly. Trying to get close to a calving glacier is incredibly dangerous, and satellites can't see what's happening beneath the waves. 

This new fiber optic technology has finally given us a window into this hidden process. Why does this matter so much? 

The Greenland ice sheet is massive. If it all melted, global sea levels would rise by about 7 m. The huge influx of fresh water could also disrupt major ocean currents like the Gulf Stream, which would have massive consequences for Europe's climate. 

What happens in Greenland doesn't stay in Greenland. 

This research is a critical step in understanding just how fragile our polar regions are and how quickly they're changing. Thanks for watching.

[KE: Everything climate scientists predicted about global warming/ climate change  since the 1970s is coming true, only faster]