Narwhals help researchers uncover unique data from the deepest East Greenland fjords
They live in some of the most inaccessible waters on Earth, where ocean temperatures hover around freezing. Because they move through areas that humans rarely reach, they have been able to help researchers with a special task.
This Science Advances study reveals that narwhals swimming in East Greenland fjords have unveiled new insights about ocean conditions in previously inaccessible areas. With sensors attached, six narwhals from the Scoresby Sound region collected unique data as they traversed sections of the fjord system rarely visited by humans. This provided researchers with data from depths where previous measurements were sparse, particularly where Atlantic water reaches basins within hundreds of kilometers of the glaciers.
The Arctic Polar Water and warmer Atlantic Intermediate Water mix in the fjord system, but this region remained a major blind spot on oceanographic maps. By merging the narwhal measurements with historical data, researchers built improved models demonstrating how temperature, salinity and depth relate to one another. They found that the layer of warm Atlantic water has expanded, while the layer of cold Polar Water has contracted.
The influx of this warm water into glacier basins could accelerate the rate at which glaciers lose ice.
This research not only sheds light on current ocean conditions in East Greenland but also aids climate models designed to predict future climate change. As glaciers melt, freshwater enters the ocean, impacting circulation patterns and climate patterns far beyond the Arctic region. The study highlights the importance of improving our understanding of glacier melt processes, especially given Greenland's massive ice sheet.
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