Greenland’s Bejeweled Ice Sheet. In spring 2025, jewel-toned points of blue began to appear on the white surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. As summer arrived, they grew larger and more numerous, taking on unique shapes and occasionally forming connections.

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1. In spring 2025, jewel-toned points of blue began to appear on the white surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. As summer arrived, they grew larger and more numerous, taking on unique shapes and occasionally forming connections. The colorful seasonal phenomenon is due to meltwater from snow and ice, which pools atop the ice sheet in places each melt season.

   An array of melt ponds dotted the ice sheet in western Greenland on July 2, 2025, when the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9 acquired this image. Ponding is typical this time of year, especially in the area shown here, east of Nordenskiöld Glacier and southeast of Jakobshavn Glacier (not pictured).

   Part of the ice sheet appears brownish gray because impurities, such as black carbon or dust, remain behind as the snow and ice melt, exposing old, dark, “dirty” ice. Darkening of the ice surface lowers its albedo, or reflectiveness, which can hasten melting through the absorption of additional energy from the Sun in the summer months.

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