Spatio-temporal variations in seasonal ice tongue submarine melt rate at a tidewater glacier in southwest Greenland

A. N. Moyer; P. W. Nienow; N. Gourmelen; A. J. Sole; D. A. Slater; M. Truffer; M. Fahnestock

doi:10.1017/jog.2019.27

Spatio-temporal variations in seasonal ice tongue submarine melt rate at a tidewater glacier in southwest Greenland

A. N. Moyer^*
, P. W. Nienow
, N. Gourmelen
, A. J. Sole
, D. A. Slater
, M. Truffer
, M. Fahnestock

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Geography & Sustainable Development

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	523-530
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Glaciology
Volume	65
Issue number	252
Early online date	27 May 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.27
Publication status	Published - Aug 2019

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

Glacier calving
Ice/ocean interactions
Remote sensing
Subglacial processes

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Slater_2019_JG_Spatio_CC
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Final published version, 605 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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@article{5801ebf792134681854a35ba5af3df52,

title = "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. ",

keywords = "Glacier calving, Ice/ocean interactions, Remote sensing, Subglacial processes",

author = "Moyer, \{A. N.\} and Nienow, \{P. W.\} and N. Gourmelen and Sole, \{A. J.\} and Slater, \{D. A.\} and M. Truffer and M. Fahnestock",

note = "ANM is supported by a University of Edinburgh Principal{\textquoteright}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.",

year = "2019",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1017/jog.2019.27",

language = "English",

volume = "65",

pages = "523--530",

journal = "Journal of Glaciology",

issn = "0022-1430",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "252",

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T1 - Spatio-temporal variations in seasonal ice tongue submarine melt rate at a tidewater glacier in southwest Greenland

AU - Moyer, A. N.

AU - Nienow, P. W.

AU - Gourmelen, N.

AU - Sole, A. J.

AU - Slater, D. A.

AU - Truffer, M.

AU - Fahnestock, M.

N1 - 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.

PY - 2019/8

Y1 - 2019/8

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Glacier calving

KW - Ice/ocean interactions

KW - Remote sensing

KW - Subglacial processes

U2 - 10.1017/jog.2019.27

DO - 10.1017/jog.2019.27

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85066907197

SN - 0022-1430

VL - 65

SP - 523

EP - 530

JO - Journal of Glaciology

JF - Journal of Glaciology

IS - 252

ER -

Spatio-temporal variations in seasonal ice tongue submarine melt rate at a tidewater glacier in southwest Greenland

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