This information would help Tulaczyk understand
whether subglacial water lubricates the flow of ice, and whether it might play a role in the runaway acceleration of glaciers that has occurred in some parts of Antarctica.
What's left to figure out is
whether this is happening with other
subglacial lakes around the Greenland ice sheet, as well as
whether and how to incorporate the findings into models that are aimed at gauging how much Greenland might change with the warming climate and how much
water it could add to the rising seas.