Glacial Meltwater

Description

Glacial meltwater pools in a low point atop the west Greenlandic Ice Sheet during the summer season, approximately 65 miles southeast of Ilulissat. Thousands of these lakes form on Greenland's ice every summer, and they can drain suddenly: in July 2006 scientists recorded one, 5.6 square kilometres across, splitting open 980 metres of ice and emptying from the bottom, most of it in about 90 minutes.