A probable consequence of global warming. Researchers have described a completely new type of eruption for science, linked to the drainage of an Arctic Sub-Glacial lake.
Ice eruption
When the Greenland glaciers melt, the water generally flows towards the rocky substrate before pouring into the ocean. As new research reveals, when certain conditions are met, it can literally spring from the ice cap.
Intrigued by the appearance in August 2014 of a crater approximately 85 meters deep in the Groenland ice cap, Malcolm McMillan, of the University of Lancaster, and his colleagues relied on satellite images and digital models in order to establish the cause.
These meticulous investigations revealed that this giant hole was the result of the drainage of a sub-Glacial lake, having spread over ten days. About a kilometer downstream from the crater, the team observed intriguing glacial characteristics (ice mound 25 meters high and giant crevices) which have proven to be the stigma of a eruption caused by the unusual flow of some 90 billion cubic meters of water.
Satellite images reveal how a subglacial lake erupted through the Greenland ice sheet – a phenomenon never witnessed before which could be driven by rising temperatures. https://t.co/tAqbbCsnk4
— New Scientist (@newscientist) July 30, 2025
« We had never observed a similar phenomenon before », Underline the authors of the new study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Ice envelope
According to McMillan, this spectacular rise through the fractures of the ice cap would be due to the remarkably rapid drainage of the lake and to the presence of an unusual ice envelope, preventing the sub-Glacial torrent from reaching the rocky substrate.
« In such conditions, you accumulate much more pressure, which leads to this unexpected effect “Consider the researcher.
For his team, the next steps will consist in examining the satellite archives in order to identify other similar events, specify the mechanisms involved and precisely determine the influence of the influence of climate change across the process.
Last December, a study suggested that its intensification could also awaken antarctic volcanoes.
