Comment on Exceptionally high heat flux needed to sustain the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream by S. Smith-Johnson et al., The Cryosphere, 14, 841–854, 2020

Smith-Johnson et al. (The Cryosphere, 14, 841–854, 2020) model the effect of a potential hotspot on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS). They argue that a heat flux of at least 970 mW m−2 is required to have initiated or control NEGIS. Such an exceptionally high heat flux would be unique in the world and is incompatible with known geological processes that can raise the heat flux. NEGIS is thus formed and controlled by some other, yet unknown, process.