| 9 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago Slippery when warm?
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(NECN/ABC) - It's chilling detective work as scientists work to figure out exactly how global warming is causing Greeland's glaciers to speed up on their way to the sea.
Summertime in Greenland means melting snow forming lakes and streams, and global warming means even more melting. But, scientists have discovered that those lakes, including some that are miles long, can vanish in just minutes.
Ian Joughin is part of a team that monitors Greenland's glaciers. They detected this massive lake drainage using sensors, and wondered if it plays a role in another mystery -- the case of the runaway glaciers. In recent years, some glaciers have more than doubled their speed toward the ocean.
If global warming is creating more melt, then what the water from these lakes does when it gets under the glaciers is significant. Scientists thought it might be the main cause for the increased movement, but the truth wasn't so simple. Researchers used GPS devices to track how fast the ice moves as a large lake drained. They linked the amount of lake drainage to some ice movement, but it didn't account for all the speed up.
So, while the lakes can play a small role, Joughin and other researchers will be back again this summer, looking for new suspects into this cold case.
ABC's Brad Kloza takes a closer look.
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