By: Bryan Walsh
Being that the Earth is more than 4.5 billion years old, there are more and more discoveries each year. (Walsh) "Scientists have discovered a gigantic liquid water reservoir underneath Greenland's massive ice sheet". (Walsh 1). Nobody really saw this coming when glaciologists were in Greenland, drilling holes and there were no predictions on this discovery in 2011. "This aquifer is more than 27, 000sq. miles large-bigger than West Virginia" (Walsh 1). When looking at this, it would not be on the surface. When considering the temperatures throughout the year in Greenland, we see that there is always so much ice on the top surface. When the team was drilling these holes, they had noticed liquid water dripping, when the temperatures are below freezing. After analyzing this in 2013 recently, Lora Koenig had discovered that the temperature throughout this aquifer was at 32 degrees, which was not very near freezing point. This glaciologist thinks that the snow had changed the temperature of the aquifer because the snow had kept it from freezing. "The volume of the aquifer- which is fed by meltwater that flows through the Greenland ice sheet- is immense, and estimated 154 billions tons of water. That would be enough by itself to raise global sea level by 0.016 in. were the entire background lake to flow into the oceans". (Walsh 1). With this discovery, scientists can see how the liquid water moves in the ice sheets in Greenland. (Walsh) This will really help the scientists understand Greenland;s relationship with climate change, when looking towards the future. (Walsh)
http://science.time.com/2013/12/27/newly-discovered-underground-aquifer-greenland/
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