Helheim Glacier melt, Greenland

Along the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet, outlet glaciers flow as icy rivers through fjords and out to sea. These pictures show a fjord in which Helheim Glacier (on the left) is crumbling into large and small icebergs (light blue, on the right). The glacier outlet ("calving front") held steady from the 1970s until about 2001, then began to retreat towards its source about 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) between 2001 and 2005. The glacier's flow to the sea has also sped up. NASA images created by Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory, using data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. Courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.