Summer Melt Begins in Greenland
As spring and summer bring the sun's rays back to the Arctic after the long, dark winter, the ice on the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet begins its annual melt, pooling in depressions on the icy expanse that dot the ice with brilliant shades of blue.
Scientists study these melt ponds to get an idea of the rate of melting of the ice sheet as a whole and how that might affect the flow of its glaciers out to sea, as meltwater that trickles down between the ice and the bedrock below it helps lubricate the ice.
Bright blue melt ponds dot the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet on June 21, 2013, in an image taken by the Landsat 8 satellite. These melt ponds form in depressions in the ice in the spring and summer when the sun's rays return to the Arctic:
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