Ice front change of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and southeast Greenland during the 21st century

Bunce, Charlie; Carr, J. Rachel; Nienow, Peter W.; Ross, Neil; Killick, Rebecca

doi:10.1017/jog.2018.44

Title: Ice front change of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and southeast Greenland during the 21st century

Journal Article · Tue May 22 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Glaciology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2018.44· OSTI ID:1543601

^[1]; Carr, J. Rachel ^[2]; Nienow, Peter W. ^[3];

^[2]; Killick, Rebecca ^[4]

Newcastle Univ., Newcastle upon Tyne (United Kingdom); Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)
Newcastle Univ., Newcastle upon Tyne (United Kingdom)
Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)
Lancaster Univ. (United Kingdom)

ABSTRACT The increasingly negative mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) over the last ~25 years has been associated with enhanced surface melt and increased ice loss from marine-terminating outlet glaciers. Accelerated retreat during 2000–2010 was concentrated in the southeast and northwest sectors of the ice sheet; however, there was considerable spatial and temporal variability in the timing and magnitude of retreat both within and between these regions. This behaviour has yet to be quantified and compared for all glaciers in both regions. Furthermore, it is unclear whether retreat has continued after 2010 in the northwest, and whether the documented slowdown in the southeast post-2005 has been sustained. Here, we compare spatial and temporal patterns of frontal change in the northwest and southeast GrIS, for the period 2000–2015. Our results show near-ubiquitous retreat of outlet glaciers across both regions for the study period; however, the timing and magnitude of inter-annual frontal position change is largely asynchronous. We also find that since 2010, there is continued terminus retreat in the northwest, which contrasts with considerable inter-annual variability in the southeast. Analysis of the role of glacier-specific factors demonstrates that fjord and bed geometry are important controls on the timing and magnitude of glacier retreat.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1543601

Journal Information:: Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 64, Issue 246; ISSN 0022-1430

Publisher:: International Glaciological SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 27 works

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