continued retreat of Greenland’s most productive glacier In
terms of ice flow discharge, one of Greenland’s most productive
outlets from the inland ice sheet, if not the most productive
glacier in the Northern Hemisphere, the Ilulissat glacier (also
known as the Jakobshavn glacier) continues to retreat. The net
area change at this glacier since late summer 2000 is a loss of
122 sq km, equivalent with 1.4 x Manhattan Is., retreating
effectively 18 km (11.2 mi) in 12 years. In 2012, this glacier
front lost an an area of 13 sq km, measured from August 2011 to
August 2012. Thi’s year’s area loss is the largest since the
2007-2008 interval. A concern is that this and other major
marine terminating glaciers, as they retreat, they accelerate,
increasing their global sea level contribution. Indeed, once the
ice shelf in front of this glacier disintegrated, by the end of
summer 2003, it’s speed had doubled (Joughin et al. 2004).
Flying over Ilulissat glacier this July, it was stunning to
notice how retreat has proceed