Giant Ice:Photos of Greenland's Glaciers

Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland's glaciers

(Image credit: Ian Joughin and Science / AAAS)

This small outlet glacier south of Jakobshavn Isbrae is moving ice from the interior of the ice sheet out to the ice sheet edge (top right), where the ice calves off into the ocean.

Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland's glaciers

(Image credit: Ian Joughin and Science / AAAS)

This relatively small outlet glacier is just one of hundreds (there are many much larger) that move ice from the interior of the Greenland ice sheet out to the ocean.

Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland's glaciers

(Image credit: Ian Joughin and Science / AAAS)

The many fast-moving outlet glaciers around the Greenland coast are constantly calving ice into the ocean, where the melting ice affects sea level.

Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland's glaciers

(Image credit: Ian Joughin and Science / AAAS)

The heavily crevassed ice on this small Greenland outlet glacier cascades down to the fjord water (bottom right), which is filled with icebergs and small bits of ice.

Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland's glaciers

(Image credit: Ian Joughin and Science / AAAS)

The heavily crevassed surface (extending to the distant horizon) of Jakobshavn Isbrae, one of Greenland's fastest outlet glaciers, is shown on this large iceberg that calved from the glacier's end.

Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland's glaciers

(Image credit: Ian Joughin and Science / AAAS)

In part because the large Jakobshavn Isbrae moves so quickly, it is difficult to tell the glacier ice (right and top) from the many icebergs it has calved off (center front) into the fjord.

Study: Greenland is Shrinking at Surprising Rate

(Image credit: Howat et al.)

Lines on this satellite image of Greenland's Helheim glacier show the positions of the glacier front between 2001 and 2005.

Glaciers Disappear in Before & After Photos

Glaciers Disappear in Before & After Photos

Small Ice Sources Pose Big Threat to Rising Seas

(Image credit: Robert. S. Anderson, University of Colorado)

Acceleration and calving of the Columbia Glacier and other tidewater glaciers in the far north are a large reason glaciers and ice caps are contributing more to sea level rise this century than Greenland and Antarctica, says a new CU-Boulder study.

Greenland Glacier

Store Glacier, West Greenland

(Image credit: Eric Rignot, NASA JPL)

A NASA-funded study finds that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass at an accelerating pace, three times faster than that of mountain glaciers and ice caps. Here, the Store Glacier, West Greenland.

Buried Volcano Discovered in Antarctica

(Image credit: Carl Robinson/British Antarctic Survey)

A British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Twin Otter airplane conducting a sub-ice radar survey.

Jennifer Welsh

Jennifer Welsh is a Connecticut-based science writer and editor and a regular contributor to Live Science. She also has several years of bench work in cancer research and anti-viral drug discovery under her belt. She has previously written for Science News, VerywellHealth, The Scientist, Discover Magazine, WIRED Science, and Business Insider.