We are witnessing that many of the world’s glaciers are melting at an increasing rate, and this means that in some places there will be less basis for operating hydropower, less ski tourism and, not least, freshwater will become less accessible to millions of people.
Understanding the interaction between ice, meltwater and local environments is important for societies in order to adapt to the changes. That is why a large research project funded with more than seven million euro by the EU Horizon programme has just been launched. GEUS is one of the 18 partner institutions in the project, which has been given the abbreviation LIQUIDICE. In LIQUIDICE, researchers from both Europe and India will collect new data and improve regional climate models for ice masses in five selected glacier environments in Europe and India:
🔹 The Greenland Ice Sheet, Greenland
🔹 Monte Rosa, Italy
🔹 Jostedalsbreen, Norway
🔹 Svalbard, Norway
🔹 Himalayas, India
GEUS studies the Greenland Ice Sheet
A team of researchers from the Department of Glaciology and Climate at GEUS is responsible for studying the part of the Greenland Ice Sheet that is close to Ilulissat and Kangerlussuaq, respectively. Here, GEUS already has several different research activities that the LIQUIDICE project builds on, says Chief Consultant Andreas Peter Ahlstrøm, who is leading the work.
“We will set up several different meters inside the ice in the two areas, so that we will get better data on, among other things, the amount of snow and temperatures. And then we will improve our existing models for the melting and movement of the ice, so that we can better predict changes.”
Andreas Peter Ahlstrøm and his colleagues are busy planning this summer’s fieldwork, where they will update several of the approximately 40 permanent climate measurement stations that GEUS has around the ice. The first team will depart in May 2025.