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Leap of Science

MIT-WHOI graduate student Laura Stevens leaps over a stream of meltwater on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Stevens was part of team (including WHOI scientists Sara Das, Mark Behn, and Jeff McGuire) that identified a surprising mechanism that triggers large cracks to form in the bottoms of lakes atop the ice. Water surges through the cracks, draining the lakes within hours and sending a deluge thousands of feet through the ice down to the bedrock. The water lubricates the interface between ice and rock, allowing glaciers to slide faster, shed more ice into the ocean, and cause sea levels to rise faster.(Photo by Sarah Das, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)