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Ice Water

Each summer, meltwater ponds and lakes form on top of the Greenland ice sheet, as sunlight and warm air melt the surface. This meltwater can sometimes penetrate the thick, cold ice, flow a kilometer down to the bottom, and accelerate some of the large-scale summer movements of the ice sheet. A WHOI-led research team departs this week for further study of this phenomenon.
(Photo by Sarah Das, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)