Dr Dominik Gräff and colleagues from the GreenFjord team just published an article in the leading scientific magazine Nature. The article describes coupled iceberg calving and underwater glacier melting processes within a fjord ecosystem in southwestern Greenland. The researchers employed a novel technology of distributed fibre on the seabed at the glacier calving front that allows sensing along a space-time continuum. They describe their work as
“a leap forward in how we observe ice-ocean interactions —placing the fibre-optic sensor right where the future of Greenland’s ice is being decided”.
Publication:
Dominik Gräff et al. Calving-driven fjord dynamics resolved by seafloor fibre sensing. Nature. 13 August 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09347-7
More information:
- https://www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/media/2025/iceberg-calving.html
- https://actu.epfl.ch/news/scientists-deployed-an-innovative-fiber-optics-in-/
- https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2025/08/falling-ice-drives-glacial-retreat-in-greenland.html
- https://www.washington.edu/news/2025/08/13/fiber-sensing-reveals-how-falling-ice-drives-glacial-retreat/
- https://communities.springernature.com/posts/from-cracks-to-currents-resolving-iceberg-calving-with-laser-light
Illustration photo: The research vessel Adolf Jensen lays a fibre optic cable in the fjord. To the left is the 80-meter-high vertical ice front of the glacier. (Image: Dominik Gräff, University of Washington)
