<p>The image below, cut from the <a href="https://www.climatereanalyzer.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Climate Reanalyzer</a> based on data from September 26, 2024, shows deviations of the sea surface temperatures from the long-term mean. The color code is intuitive, with orange resp. blue for warmer resp. colder temperatures.</p>
<p>One can see that the North Atlantic is much warmer than in past decades. However, the sea in a small strip around the South and East of Greenland is actually <em>colder</em> than it used to be. The adjacent warm Atlantic water shows an even warmer border region which looks like a shock front where a north facing current is stopped by the cold water:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/23xvQoM6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/23xvQoM6.png" alt="A sea surface anomaly map showing a band of unusually cold water around Greenland's South and East" /></a></p>
<p>Is that cold water meltwater from Greenland's glaciers (at the end of September)? Apparently, Greenland's ice shield loses about <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GL076561" rel="nofollow noreferrer">17 Gt of ice per year</a>. Is that actually visible in simple temperature measurements? A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that since a Gt is a cubic kilometer (don't you love metric units), 17 Gt would translate into a 1700 km long strip of a kilometer-wide layer of meltwater 10 meters deep (or 10 km wide and 1 m deep, etc.) Of course such a layer would not stay there imperturbed; this is just to check the order of magnitude.</p>
<p>Also, there is an interesting spot on Iceland's North where the &quot;shock front&quot; touches the coast. Have any unusual observations been made, e.g. weather events like unusual fog or precipitation, a change in the historical currents, or a (lack of) sea animal sightings?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-07T21:18:11.663Z
Interesting question! I recon one could find some answers with some keywords like "salinity polar ocean satellite" or similar. Yet a quick search didn't give me any map I could interpret to this end, though I'm confident one can find something with more time investment than the 5 minutes I could do right now
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-08T06:53:01.513Z
@planetmaker Thanks :-). Same here --  I did some layman's googling (hence the 17 Gt number) and didn't find a clear, prominent answer, at which point I thought maybe some expert is scanning this group. I find the image quite striking.
Peter - Reinstate Monica
<climate-change><glaciology><amoc>
Is this cold water surrounding Greenland meltwater?
Peter - Reinstate Monica
# Is this cold water surrounding Greenland meltwater?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-10-07)

The image below, cut from the [Climate Reanalyzer](https://www.climatereanalyzer.com) based on data from September 26, 2024, shows deviations of the sea surface temperatures from the long-term mean. The color code is intuitive, with orange resp. blue for warmer resp. colder temperatures.

One can see that the North Atlantic is much warmer than in past decades. However, the sea in a small strip around the South and East of Greenland is actually *colder* than it used to be. The adjacent warm Atlantic water shows an even warmer border region which looks like a shock front where a north facing current is stopped by the cold water:

[![A sea surface anomaly map showing a band of unusually cold water around Greenland's South and East](https://i.sstatic.net/23xvQoM6.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/23xvQoM6.png)

Is that cold water meltwater from Greenland's glaciers (at the end of September)? Apparently, Greenland's ice shield loses about [17 Gt of ice per year](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GL076561). Is that actually visible in simple temperature measurements? A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that since a Gt is a cubic kilometer (don't you love metric units), 17 Gt would translate into a 1700 km long strip of a kilometer-wide layer of meltwater 10 meters deep (or 10 km wide and 1 m deep, etc.) Of course such a layer would not stay there imperturbed; this is just to check the order of magnitude.

Also, there is an interesting spot on Iceland's North where the "shock front" touches the coast. Have any unusual observations been made, e.g. weather events like unusual fog or precipitation, a change in the historical currents, or a (lack of) sea animal sightings?

**Tags:** climate-change, glaciology, amoc

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Interesting question! I recon one could find some answers with some keywords like "salinity polar ocean satellite" or similar. Yet a quick search didn't give me any map I could interpret to this end, though I'm confident one can find something with more time investment than the 5 minutes I could do right now  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Thanks :-). Same here --  I did some layman's googling (hence the 17 Gt number) and didn't find a clear, prominent answer, at which point I thought maybe some expert is scanning this group. I find the image quite striking.  

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## 0 answers

