Major new project studies how the Greenland ice sheet responds to shrinking top layer “sponge”

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The ice sheet in Greenland faces many changes and one of them is hiding in plain sight – the snowy layer covering most of its surface. Normally acting as a sponge for refreezing meltwater, this layer is important for the overall fate of the ice sheet, but it’s changing in ways researchers currently do not fully understand. Now, a substantial grant from the European Research Council (ERC) enables an international consortium to investigate this problem.

The top layer of the Greenland ice sheet consists of firn, a type of compressed snow with countless air pockets. The firn layer can be up to 100 meters thick and normally acts as a huge sponge, soaking up most of the meltwater created on the ice sheet’s surface each summer. About 90% of the entire ice sheet is covered by this firn layer, but as Arctic temperatures rise, this ice-sheet blanket is changing fast. Now, more meltwater is percolating into Greenland’s firn than previously.

„The Greenland ice sheet’s firn covered area is shrinking and we expect that the firn will lose a great deal of its current meltwater retention ability. We need to find out how the entire ice sheet will react to this,“ says Professor William Colgan from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS).

He is part of a group of researchers from four different European research institutions who just received a major grant of 13 million Euro from the European Research Councils (ERC) Synergy Grant to investigate this over the course of the next six years. The project is titled ‘Greenland’s Melting Firn and Ice Sheet Response’ – or FirnMelt in short.

About the FirnMelt Project

Partner institutions:

  • Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland
  • Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Germany
  • University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Funding:13 Mio. Euros (European Research Council)

Duration: 6 years, starting in March 2026.

Contact information, alfabethical

Angelika Humbert, Professor

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (Germany)

Phone: +49 471 4831 1834

Email: [email protected]

Horst Machguth, Professor

University of Fribourg (Switzerland)

Phone: +41 79 204 74 92

Email: [email protected]

Michiel R. van den Broeke, Professor

Utrecht University (The Netherlands)

Phone: +31612938460

Email: [email protected]

William Colgan, Professor

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (Denmark)

Phone: +4591333814

Email: [email protected]

Originally published on 6 November by Geus.

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