Piercing Blue News Today

Its surface is etched with fast flowing rivers that carry the melt water deep down to the bed. >> it cascades down thousands of feet and makes its way to the bed. its heating the bed of the ice sheet. everything is stacking up that the ice is going faster than forecast. >> reporter: and no sign of slowing down? >> the melt is winning this game. >> reporter: and the more greenland melts, the more it speeds up the melting process. take the large melt lakes that are forming on top of the ice sheet,...

>> reporter: and the more greenland melts, the more it speeds up the melting process. take the large melt lakes that are forming on top of the ice sheet. stunning to look at, but bad news for the ice. these lakes are deceptively beautiful, because whereas the white of the ice actually reflects the sunlight, the piercing blue of the lakes actively absorbs it, heating them up and then accelerating the rate of melt. perhaps the clearest example of this vicious melt cycle can be seen in greenlands m...

These lakes are deceptively beautiful, because whereas white of the ice actually reflects the sunlight, the piercing blue of the lakes actively absorbs it, heating them up and then accelerating the rate of melt. perhaps the clearest example of this vicious melt cycle can be seen in greenlands many glaciers. a glacier is a mass of thick ice that moves under the force of its own weight, like a slow river into the sea. but as melt water moves through the ice, it softens it, draining to the bed, whe...

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