Greenland’s Past, Our Future

What KANG-GLAC does 

The Greenland Ice Sheet is one of the fastest warming places on Earth. It is losing ice at an accelerating rate due to climate change. Warm ocean waters travel through fjords and meet marine-terminating glaciers, driving melting and iceberg calving. This adds freshwater to the ocean, which alters circulation and ecosystems not only around Greenland but also across the North Atlantic. These changes have the potential to affect UK weather systems. 

KANG-GLAC investigates how ice-sheet loss has progressed during past warm periods, and what this means for future ocean circulation and marine productivity, the creation of ocean life through photosynthesis 

Why this matters 

KANG-GLAC aims to: 

• understand how the Greenland Ice Sheet responded to past warm periods, especially during a period called the Holocene Thermal Maximum when Northern Hemisphere high latitudes temperatures were up to 5ºC warmer than today. 
• link glacier retreat, ocean warming and marine productivity 
• predict how future ice-sheet loss will affect ocean circulation and ecosystems 
• improve projections of climate impacts on regional and global scales 

Freshwater from melting ice sheets has far-reaching impacts. It influences the strength of ocean currents, nutrient cycling and marine ecosystems. Understanding these links is crucial for predicting how climate change will affect water, food and weather patterns worldwide. 

Who is involved 

KANG-GLAC is a 3.5-year project led by UK researchers with international collaborators. The team includes experts in glaciology, oceanography, marine biology and climate modelling. 

The project uses the UK’s polar research vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, making full use of its state-of-the-art facilities for research and logistics.

How KANG-GLAC works 

The project studies how Greenland’s glaciers, oceans and ecosystems interact by combining three approaches: modern observations, marine sediment cores analysis and computer models.  

The team spent six weeks on a research cruise to southeast Greenland, where they collected data about the ocean, marine life and geology. They measured how warm ocean water mixes with melting glacier ice, and how this affects sea life and nutrients in the water today.  

They also drilled into the seabed to extract sediment cores and collected samples from the land. These cores act like history books, showing how glaciers, oceans and ecosystems have changed over the past 11,000 years. By comparing what they found in the sediment with their modern measurements, the researchers can check their results are accurate.  

They then will use computer models and this new data to understand how Greenland’s ice sheet responded to warmer temperatures in the past. This helps us predict what might happen to the ice sheet as our climate continues to warm. 

Science objectives 

KANG-GLAC aims to:  

• build the first coupled records of glacier change, ocean warming and marine productivity for the Holocene in southeast Greenland
• test how the Greenland Ice Sheet responded to past warm climates comparable to those projected for 2100 
• link modern observations with long-term records to improve climate model accuracy 
• assess the impacts of freshwater inputs on ocean circulation and carbon storage 

These objectives provide vital context for understanding how current and future ice-sheet loss will shape ocean systems and marine ecosystems. 

Project co-lead Dr Kelly Hogan said: “Every day we’re seeing in the news how the Arctic is changing, and we know there will be knock-on effects for the rest of the planet.” 

“We need to understand how the Greenland Ice Sheet is likely to decay over the coming decades to centuries, and what the subsequent effects will be on both ocean currents and marine food webs. This is now urgent information for us to gather so policymakers can understand what will happen in the North Atlantic and set out appropriate adaptation and mitigation plans.”

Results will be shared through publications, project updates, and collaborations with the wider polar and climate science communities. 

Colm Ó Cofaigh (Durham: Co-PI)

Jerry Lloyd (Durham: Co-I)

Dave Roberts (Durham: Co-I)

John Howe (SAMS: Co-I)

Mark Inall (SAMS: Co-I)

Christian März (Bonn: Co-I)

Jochen Voss (Leeds: Co-I)

Marie Porter (SAMS: named researcher)

1. Greenland science expedition aims to unveil critical climate insights

   A team will work in south-east Greenland to advance our understanding of the region’s rapidly decaying ice sheet and its impacts on ocean and global climate systems.

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1. RRS Sir David Attenborough

   Our state-of-the-art polar science ship provides scientists access to remote and challenging marine environments across the Antarctic and Arctic.

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2. Marine robotics capability

   Exploring the ocean

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3. Scientific moon pool

   RRS Sir David Attenborough is the first British polar research vessel to feature a scientific moon pool.

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