Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat
Abstract The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at accelerated rates in the 21st century, making it the largest single contributor to rising sea levels. Faster flow of outlet glaciers has substantially contributed to this loss, with the cause of speedup, and potential for future change, uncertain. H...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2 |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2 2023-05-15T16:20:59+02:00 Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat King, Michalea D. Howat, Ian M. Candela, Salvatore G. Noh, Myoung J. Jeong, Seongsu Noël, Brice P. Y. van den Broeke, Michiel R. Wouters, Bert Negrete, Adelaide National Aeronautics and Space Administration OSU | Graduate School, Ohio State University Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research | Nationaal Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Communications Earth & Environment volume 1, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2 2022-01-04T15:50:51Z Abstract The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at accelerated rates in the 21st century, making it the largest single contributor to rising sea levels. Faster flow of outlet glaciers has substantially contributed to this loss, with the cause of speedup, and potential for future change, uncertain. Here we combine more than three decades of remotely sensed observational products of outlet glacier velocity, elevation, and front position changes over the full ice sheet. We compare decadal variability in discharge and calving front position and find that increased glacier discharge was due almost entirely to the retreat of glacier fronts, rather than inland ice sheet processes, with a remarkably consistent speedup of 4–5% per km of retreat across the ice sheet. We show that widespread retreat between 2000 and 2005 resulted in a step-increase in discharge and a switch to a new dynamic state of sustained mass loss that would persist even under a decline in surface melt. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Springer Nature (via Crossref) Greenland Communications Earth & Environment 1 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science King, Michalea D. Howat, Ian M. Candela, Salvatore G. Noh, Myoung J. Jeong, Seongsu Noël, Brice P. Y. van den Broeke, Michiel R. Wouters, Bert Negrete, Adelaide Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
Abstract The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at accelerated rates in the 21st century, making it the largest single contributor to rising sea levels. Faster flow of outlet glaciers has substantially contributed to this loss, with the cause of speedup, and potential for future change, uncertain. Here we combine more than three decades of remotely sensed observational products of outlet glacier velocity, elevation, and front position changes over the full ice sheet. We compare decadal variability in discharge and calving front position and find that increased glacier discharge was due almost entirely to the retreat of glacier fronts, rather than inland ice sheet processes, with a remarkably consistent speedup of 4–5% per km of retreat across the ice sheet. We show that widespread retreat between 2000 and 2005 resulted in a step-increase in discharge and a switch to a new dynamic state of sustained mass loss that would persist even under a decline in surface melt. |
author2 |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration OSU | Graduate School, Ohio State University Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research | Nationaal Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
King, Michalea D. Howat, Ian M. Candela, Salvatore G. Noh, Myoung J. Jeong, Seongsu Noël, Brice P. Y. van den Broeke, Michiel R. Wouters, Bert Negrete, Adelaide |
author_facet |
King, Michalea D. Howat, Ian M. Candela, Salvatore G. Noh, Myoung J. Jeong, Seongsu Noël, Brice P. Y. van den Broeke, Michiel R. Wouters, Bert Negrete, Adelaide |
author_sort |
King, Michalea D. |
title |
Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat |
title_short |
Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat |
title_full |
Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat |
title_fullStr |
Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat |
title_sort |
dynamic ice loss from the greenland ice sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Communications Earth & Environment volume 1, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2 |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
1 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766009002683006976 |