Iceland Rising from Glacier Melt
A group of researchers from the University of Arizona has discovered that the Earth’s crust under Iceland rebounds as the island’s ice caps melt as a result of global warming.
Using global positioning satellite receivers on that are placed on Iceland, a research team from the University of Arizona recorded movements of the Icelandic crust which shows that the island is rising as its glaciers melt. The team’s findings, the first report to show the rapid uplift of the island, will be in a future issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
"Our research makes the connection between recent accelerated uplift and the accelerated melting of the Icelandic ice caps," said first author Kathleen Compton, a UA geosciences doctoral candidate.
Some areas in the south-central location of the island are lifting as much as 1.4 inches each year – a rate that caught the researchers by surprise. This study shows that the current uplift in Iceland is a direct result of the thinning of glaciers and global warming.
The team plans on analyzing the variation of uplift during the different seasons in Iceland.