Precursor motion to iceberg calving at Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland, observed with terrestrial radar interferometry

ABSTRACT Time-varying elevations near the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer (TRI) in June 2015. An ice block with surface dimensions of 1370 m × 290 m calved on 10 June. TRI-generated time series show that ice elevation near the calvin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: XIE, SURUI, DIXON, TIMOTHY H., VOYTENKO, DENIS, HOLLAND, DAVID M., HOLLAND, DENISE, ZHENG, TIANTIAN
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2016
Subjects:
Earth-Surface Processes
Greenland
Jakobshavn Isbræ
Jakobshavn
Jakobshavn isbræ
Journal of Glaciology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.104
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143016001040
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Summary:ABSTRACT Time-varying elevations near the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer (TRI) in June 2015. An ice block with surface dimensions of 1370 m × 290 m calved on 10 June. TRI-generated time series show that ice elevation near the calving front began to increase 65 h prior to the event, and can be fit with a simple block rotation model. We hypothesize that subsurface melting at the base of the floating terminus breaks the gravity-buoyancy equilibrium, leading to slow subsidence and rotation of the block, and its eventual failure.

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