Rapid climate change could cause Greenland’s bedrock to rise, forming small islands

While much of the world struggles with sea level rise due to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, the situation on the Greenlandic mainland is almost the opposite. The land is rising faster than current sea level.

New research from DTU Space reveals a significant rise in Greenland’s bedrock, reaching up to 20 cm over the past 10 years from 2013 to 2023, the equivalent of 2 meters per century. This uplift will continue in the years to come, partly due to the melting of the ice cap at the summit, reducing pressure on the underlying ground.

“This is a pretty significant land uplift that we can now demonstrate. They indicate that local changes in Greenland are happening very quickly, which is impacting life in Greenland. It is also affecting the map of Greenland , as new land emerges from the sea, giving rise to new small islands and skerries over time,” explains Danjal Longfors Berg, a Ph.D. student at DTU Space.

He is the lead author of a new study on land uplift in Greenland, recently published in Geophysical research letters.

Data from 61 GPS measuring stations in Greenland

The research draws on data from GNET, a network of 61 measuring stations located along the coast of Greenland. GNET is owned and operated by the Agency for Data Supply and Infrastructure, part of the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Public Services.

“GNET is a fundamental geodetic infrastructure, providing data to measure ice melt and land uplift. GNET enables researchers, including those at DTU Space, to accurately monitor climate change,” explains Morten Hvidberg, vice -director of the agency.

Using GNSS technology, such as GPS, along with long time series, movements in bedrock can be detected over time with millimeter precision.

Current climate changes and the last ice age are accelerating land uplift

The fact that Greenland is on the rise is well known, as is Denmark. This phenomenon is attributed to the landmass being pressed down by a thick ice sheet during the last ice age. Although the Ice Age ended around 12,000 years ago, the land continues to rise due to the release of ice pressure. Additionally, increased ice sheet melting caused by recent global warming has led to additional and much more rapid local uplift along the coast of Greenland over the past two decades.

“The land uplift we are seeing in Greenland these years cannot be explained solely by natural development after the ice age. Greenland is experiencing much greater growth. With our GNET data, we can accurately isolate part of the land uplift caused by current global climate changes,” says Professor Shfaqat Abbas Khan from DTU Space, co-author of the new study.