Submarine robot to solve mystery of Greenland’s glaciers

It’s the front line of climate change and could hold the key to predicting global sea level rise, but what goes on at the underwater face of Greenland’s glaciers is a mystery to science. 

A bold new mission led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin will explore three of Greenland’s glaciers with a submersible robot. The voyage will be the first time Greenland’s glaciers — which make up the world’s second-largest ice sheet — will be seen up close underwater. 

Engineered to survive ice-covered seas by project partner the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the remotely operated vehicle Nereid Under Ice (NUI) will brave icebergs and riptides to approach within feet of the glaciers and return with data and samples from their underwater environment. 

The scientists’ primary focus is not glacial ice, but the natural sand walls — or moraines — that buttress the glaciers and are thought to naturally, but precariously, stabilize the ice sheet. What they learn will reveal what’s shoring up glaciers across the entire Greenland ice sheet, which could lead to more accurate model projections for future sea level rise.

“The big uncertainty in Greenland’s contribution to sea level rise is how fast the ice sheet is going to lose mass,” said Ginny Catania, a professor at UT’s Jackson School of Geosciences who is leading the voyage. “We know how much sea level is stored in the ice sheet, we know climate is warming and changing the ice sheet, but what we don’t know is the rate at which these glaciers will contribute to sea level rise.”

Its primary communication link is a 10-mile-long, hair-thin optic fiber connecting NUI to its support ship, allowing operators to control its cameras and arm. The robot can still be piloted using underwater acoustics if the fiber breaks and automatically returns to a pickup point if all communication fails.

“This is high-risk, high-reward science, but it’s exactly the kind of bold step needed to tackle the pressing and societally relevant questions about climate change and geohazards,” said Demian Saffer, director of UTIG. “If it succeeds, it could transform our understanding of sea level rise.

Main photo credit: Denis Felikson, Univ. of Texas