Spatio-temporal variations in seasonal ice tongue submarine melt rate at a tidewater glacier in southwest Greenland
Abstract
Submarine melting of tidewater glaciers is proposed as a trigger for their recent thinning, acceleration and retreat. We estimate spring submarine melt rates (SMRs) of Kangiata Nunaata Sermia in southwest Greenland, from 2012 to 2014, by examining changes in along-fjord freeboard and velocity of the seasonal floating ice tongue. Estimated SMRs vary spatially and temporally near the grounding line, with mean rates of 1.3 ± 0.6, 0.8 ± 0.3 and 1.0 ± 0.4 m d−1 across the tongue in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. Higher melt rates correspond with locations of emerging subglacial plumes and terminus calving activity observed during the melt season using time-lapse camera imagery. Modelling of subglacial flow paths suggests a dynamic system capable of rapid re-routing of subglacial discharge both within and between melt seasons. Our results provide an empirically-derived link between the presence of subglacial discharge plumes and areas of high spring submarine melting and calving along glacier termini.
Citation
Moyer , A N , Nienow , P W , Gourmelen , N , Sole , A J , Slater , D A , Truffer , M & Fahnestock , M 2019 , ' Spatio-temporal variations in seasonal ice tongue submarine melt rate at a tidewater glacier in southwest Greenland ' , Journal of Glaciology , vol. 65 , no. 252 , pp. 523-530 . https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.27
Publication
Journal of Glaciology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0022-1430Type
Journal article
Description
ANM is supported by a University of Edinburgh Principal’s Career Development PhD Scholarship. We acknowledge NERC grants NE/K015249/1 (to PWN) and NE/K014609/1 (to AJS) and DLR projects XTI_GLAC0296 and LAN1534 (to NG). Time-lapse imagery was acquired under NSF grant PLR-0909552 (to MT and MF). PROMICE and DMI data are available at http://www.promice.dk and http://www.dmi.dk, respectively. ArcticDEM was created from DigitalGlobe Inc. imagery, funded under NSF awards 1043681, 1559691, and 1542736.Collections
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