What lies beneath Greenland could change what we know about rising seas
A new study led by researchers at the University of Ottawa provides a series of highly detailed 3-D models of the Earth’s temperature beneath Greenland and northeastern Canada, providing insights into the region’s geological history and the response of the ice sheet to past and future climate change.
Hidden heat beneath Greenland
The research was conducted at the University of Ottawa in collaboration with scientists from the University of Twente in the Netherlands and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). The study used multiple satellite and land-based data sets and involved running hundreds of thousands of simulations on high-performance computing resources, including those at the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.
“Our new regional temperature models reveal significant lateral variations in the Earth's thermal structure beneath Greenland, which provide important information on the island’s passage over the Iceland hotspot,” explains uOttawa’s PhD graduate Parviz Ajourlou, the study’s first author. “These variations help us better interpret Greenland's tectonic history and the influence of this history on the geophysical properties of the underlying rocks.”
Glenn Milne, Chair and Full Professor within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at uOttawa and the principal investigator, emphasizes the implications: “This research advances our understanding of the Earth’s internal structure beneath Greenland. Temperature variations directly influence the interaction between the ice sheet and the bedrock, which must be quantified to interpret observations of land motion and gravity changes. These observations tell us how the ice sheet is responding to recent climate warming.”
Modeling the future of sea levels
The innovative approach involved processing multiple geophysical data sets such as seismic velocities, gravity anomalies, and heat flow to develop a comprehensive 3D temperature model. The findings not only clarify Greenland’s geologic past and the current state of the ice sheet but also improve the ability of scientists to simulate future changes of the ice sheet and its contribution to global sea level rise.
“This work is a good illustration of how our knowledge of the solid Earth enhances our ability to understand the climate system,” says Ajourlou. “By improving how we model ice-earth interactions, we can better forecast future sea level rise and plan accordingly.”
The study, titled “Upper mantle temperatures illuminate Iceland hotspot track and understanding of ice-earth interactions in Greenland” was published in PNAS.
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Upper mantle temperatures illuminate the Iceland hotspot track and understanding of ice–Earth interactions in Greenland
Article Publication Date
8-Dec-2025
