Greenland's Glaciers After 46 Years: Landsat Images Provide Glimpse of Changes in Glacial Structure

Global surface temperatures have been steadily increasing for centuries, but we saw a dramatic rise in temperature in the past 50 years. That has affected many regions of the world, in particular Greenland where data show how much the glaciers have changed only in the past half century.

NASA shared Landsat images of Greenland’s glaciers and they show how these icy structures have significantly changed over the last half century. The chilling images, which focus on the group of glaciers that empty into Greenland’s Sermilik Fjord, detail appearance and composition changes in hi-res form, NASA said in a press release.

Landsat images taken in August 2019 were compared to Landsat images snapped in 1972, and they show that these massive ice hubs are changing in color and melting at shocking rates.

(Image credit: NASA/Chris Shuman)