Independent scientists on board a Greenpeace ship found last month that the glacier, located in eastern Greenland, is moving at a speed of 14 kilometres per year, compared to five kilometres per year in 1988, it said.

The scientists, from the Climate Change Institute in the US state of Maine, also found that the glacier had receded five kilometres since 2001 after remaining stable for four decades.

"This is a dramatic discovery", said scientist Gordon Hamilton.

As the warming trend migrates north, other glaciers could respond in the same way and "this could have serious implications for the rate of sea level rise," he said.

"Greenland's shrinking glaciers are sending an urgent warning to the world that action is needed now to stop climate change," Greenpeace expedition leader Martina Krueger said.