In a striking VICE News Tonight segment, the VICE team traveled to Knud Rasmussen Glacier in eastern Greenland to investigate the mechanisms behind glacial melt and sea level rise. They met up with NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland expedition — OMG for short — to learn how ocean water has a major impact on Greenland’s disappearing glacial ice. Scientists on the expedition are finding that warming ocean currents, hundreds of meters beneath the ocean surface, are by far “the biggest and most overlooked source of glacial melt.” The segment focused on the scientific process and emphasized the importance of work like NASA’s OMG research. The result is an informative piece of visual storytelling that freelance science writer Guy Gugliotta called “a smooth, swiftly comprehensive look at global warming from the far North.” Ruben Davis, senior producer for VICE News, said the team “endeavored to make a TV news segment that would help viewers understand how much is missed if both public and scientific attention focuses solely on glacial melt above sea level. The VICE News Climate Team and director of photography Madeleine Peters showed what’s going on underwater can be just as troubling.” VICE News Tonight ran for three seasons on HBO, ending in September 2019. The program is to relaunch on Viceland, a cable network joint venture of Vice Media and A+E Networks.
