Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice

Midnight Iceberg

The midnight sun glows off an iceberg in Disko Bay, Greenland. Icebergs calving into the sea are a major source of Greenland's ice loss.

Meltwater Stream

A stream of meltwater flows across the ice surface in Greenland.

Ice Canyon

Meltwater creates a 60-foot deep (18.2 meter) canyon in the polar ice sheet.

Meltwater Conduit

This canyon drained a large meltwater lake on the surface of the ice into a moulin, or under-ice channel that flows to the bottom of the ice sheet.

Glacial Lake

Supraglacial lakes like this one (which is about 0.75 miles in diameter) dot the surface of the Greenland ice sheet during the summer seasonal melt.

Moulin

A moulin dips into the ice sheet, channeling water to the base of the ice, where a network of underground springs route it to the sea.

Pine Island Glacier

Crevasses mar stretching ice on the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica.

Pine Island Glacier Flow

Crevasses reveal the slow movement of the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica.

Criss-Crossing Crevasses

Criss-Crossing Crevasses near the grounding line of the Pine Island Glacier, where the glacier meets Antarctica's sea ice.

Aerial Glacier View

An aerial view of the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica, looking seaward.

Staccato Peaks

The Staccato Peaks of Alexander Island on the Antarctic Peninsula. Complex weather and snowfall in this region makes assessing ice loss and gain difficult.

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