BOULDER, Colo., April 17 (UPI) -- Greenland's ice sheet may be sliding into the ocean faster as melt water from lakes atop the glaciers "lubricates" their slide across ground, scientists say.
During summer, melt water pools into lakes on the ice sheet's surface, and when the water pressure gets high enough the ice fractures beneath the lake and "a huge burst of water quickly pulses through to the bed of the ice sheet," University of Colorado Boulder researcher William Colgan said.