Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland
Abstract Surface speeds in Greenland's ablation zone undergo substantial variability on an annual basis which are presumed to mainly be driven by changes in sliding. Yet, meltwater-forced changes in ice–bed coupling can also produce variable deformation motion, which impacts the magnitude of sl...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.87 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143021000873 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2021.87 2024-06-23T07:53:17+00:00 Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland Maier, Nathan Humphrey, Neil Meierbachtol, Toby Harper, Joel Office of Polar Programs 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.87 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143021000873 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Journal of Glaciology volume 68, issue 267, page 187-196 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 journal-article 2021 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.87 2024-06-12T04:04:22Z Abstract Surface speeds in Greenland's ablation zone undergo substantial variability on an annual basis which are presumed to mainly be driven by changes in sliding. Yet, meltwater-forced changes in ice–bed coupling can also produce variable deformation motion, which impacts the magnitude of sliding changes inferred from surface measurements and provides important context to flow dynamics. We examine spatiotemporal changes in deformation, sliding and surface velocities over a 2-year period using GPS and a dense network of inclinometers installed in borehole grid drilled in western Greenland's ablation zone. We find time variations in deformation motion track sliding changes through the summer and entire measurement period. A distinct spatial deformation and sliding pattern is also observed within the borehole grid which remains similar during winter and summer flow. We suggest that positively covarying sliding and deformation across seasonal timescales is characteristic of passive areas that are coupled to regions undergoing transient forcing, and the spatial patterns are consistent with variations in the local bed topography. The covarying deformation and sliding result in a 1.5–17% overestimate of sliding changes during summer compared to that inferred from surface velocity changes alone. This suggests that summer sliding increases are likely overestimated in many locations across Greenland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Greenland Journal of Glaciology 1 10 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Surface speeds in Greenland's ablation zone undergo substantial variability on an annual basis which are presumed to mainly be driven by changes in sliding. Yet, meltwater-forced changes in ice–bed coupling can also produce variable deformation motion, which impacts the magnitude of sliding changes inferred from surface measurements and provides important context to flow dynamics. We examine spatiotemporal changes in deformation, sliding and surface velocities over a 2-year period using GPS and a dense network of inclinometers installed in borehole grid drilled in western Greenland's ablation zone. We find time variations in deformation motion track sliding changes through the summer and entire measurement period. A distinct spatial deformation and sliding pattern is also observed within the borehole grid which remains similar during winter and summer flow. We suggest that positively covarying sliding and deformation across seasonal timescales is characteristic of passive areas that are coupled to regions undergoing transient forcing, and the spatial patterns are consistent with variations in the local bed topography. The covarying deformation and sliding result in a 1.5–17% overestimate of sliding changes during summer compared to that inferred from surface velocity changes alone. This suggests that summer sliding increases are likely overestimated in many locations across Greenland. |
author2 |
Office of Polar Programs |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Maier, Nathan Humphrey, Neil Meierbachtol, Toby Harper, Joel |
spellingShingle |
Maier, Nathan Humphrey, Neil Meierbachtol, Toby Harper, Joel Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland |
author_facet |
Maier, Nathan Humphrey, Neil Meierbachtol, Toby Harper, Joel |
author_sort |
Maier, Nathan |
title |
Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland |
title_short |
Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland |
title_full |
Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western Greenland |
title_sort |
deformation motion tracks sliding changes through summer, western greenland |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.87 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143021000873 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Greenland Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 68, issue 267, page 187-196 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.87 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
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1 |
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10 |
_version_ |
1802644859069136896 |