![Icebergs floating in the Labrador Sea, Nuuk Fjord, Sermersooq, Greenland; Shutterstock ID 1838040322; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -](https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/18164646/SEI_213310301.jpg)
Icebergs floating in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord in Greenland
Shutterstock/Keith Levit
Thousands of lakes dot Greenland’s coast, their waters held back by walls of ice. But sometimes, the meltwater can surge through and spill into the sea. The first survey of its kind has found a 1200 per cent increase in the number of such leaky lakes compared with how many had previously been documented to burst, which could help better model sea level rise.
The biggest factor in this spike is underreporting, according to the researchers, but it is possible that a rapidly warming Arctic has played…