Images: Northeast Greenland's Retreating Glaciers

Greenland loses its grip

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Henrik Egede-Lassen)

An international team of scientists has discovered that the last remaining stable portion of the Greenland ice sheet is starting to melt and thin.

Melting ice

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Nicolaj Krog Larsen, Aarhus University)

The front of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier (79N fjord) in northeast Greenland, captured in the summer of 2012.

Retreating ice

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Finn Bo Madsen)

Major outlet glaciers in northeast Greenland are disintegrating into the ocean.

Rising seas

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Finn Bo Madsen)

Open water in northeast Greenland.

Ice ahoy

Northeast greenland glacier

(Image credit: Finn Bo Madsen)

Another view of a retreating glacier in northeast Greenland.

Remote research

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Henrik Egede-Lassen)

Helicopter near the front of the Helheim glacier in southeast Greenland.

View from above

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Shfaqat Abbas Khan)

Iceberg in the Upernavik fjord, northwest Greenland.

Scoured rock

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Shfaqat Abbas Khan)

Frontal portion of the Helheim glacier in southeast Greenland.

Shadowy sight

Greenland glacier

(Image credit: Shfaqat Abbas Khan)

Upernavik fjord, northwest Greenland.

Becky Oskin
Contributing Writer
Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.