Predicting sea level rise is critical and of global importance. The Greenland ice sheet is a major contributor to sea level rise, and surface darkening represents a key uncertainty in its future contribution. As glacier darkening gets increasingly reported worldwide, this knowledge gap will only become more important to address to understand the response of the cryosphere to climate change.

Remote sensing, physical modeling and machine learning will be combined to resolve the mechanisms darkening the ice sheet from the turn of the century until now, providing unprecedented insights into the physics and biology of the ice surface. This new knowledge will then be used to inform high-resolution climate models and uncover the future of ice sheet darkening and its role in sea level rise.