The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming
Abstract Record-high air temperatures were observed over Greenland in the summer of 2019 and melting of the northern Greenland Ice Sheet was particularly extensive. Here we show, through direct measurements, that near surface ocean temperatures in Sherard Osborn Fjord, northern Greenland, reached 4...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
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Language: | English |
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00140-8 http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00140-8.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00140-8 |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s43247-021-00140-8 2023-05-15T15:03:31+02:00 The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming Stranne, Christian Nilsson, Johan Ulfsbo, Adam O’Regan, Matt Coxall, Helen K. Meire, Lorenz Muchowski, Julia Mayer, Larry A. Brüchert, Volker Fredriksson, Jonas Thornton, Brett Chawarski, Julek West, Gabriel Weidner, Elizabeth Jakobsson, Martin Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme Vetenskapsrådet 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00140-8 http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00140-8.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00140-8 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 2, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00140-8 2022-01-04T15:48:41Z Abstract Record-high air temperatures were observed over Greenland in the summer of 2019 and melting of the northern Greenland Ice Sheet was particularly extensive. Here we show, through direct measurements, that near surface ocean temperatures in Sherard Osborn Fjord, northern Greenland, reached 4 °C in August 2019, while in the neighboring Petermann Fjord, they never exceeded 0 °C. We show that this disparity in temperature between the two fjords occurred because thick multi-year sea ice at the entrance of Sherard Osborn Fjord trapped the surface waters inside the fjord, which led to the formation of a warm and fresh surface layer. These results suggest that the presence of multi-year sea ice increases the sensitivity of Greenland fjords abutting the Arctic Ocean to climate warming, with potential consequences for the long-term stability of the northern sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Ice Sheet Petermann Fjord Sea ice Sherard Osborn fjord Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Osborn ENVELOPE(-120.378,-120.378,56.604,56.604) Petermann Fjord ENVELOPE(-61.500,-61.500,81.167,81.167) Sherard Osborn Fjord ENVELOPE(-51.833,-51.833,82.083,82.083) Communications Earth & Environment 2 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science Stranne, Christian Nilsson, Johan Ulfsbo, Adam O’Regan, Matt Coxall, Helen K. Meire, Lorenz Muchowski, Julia Mayer, Larry A. Brüchert, Volker Fredriksson, Jonas Thornton, Brett Chawarski, Julek West, Gabriel Weidner, Elizabeth Jakobsson, Martin The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
Abstract Record-high air temperatures were observed over Greenland in the summer of 2019 and melting of the northern Greenland Ice Sheet was particularly extensive. Here we show, through direct measurements, that near surface ocean temperatures in Sherard Osborn Fjord, northern Greenland, reached 4 °C in August 2019, while in the neighboring Petermann Fjord, they never exceeded 0 °C. We show that this disparity in temperature between the two fjords occurred because thick multi-year sea ice at the entrance of Sherard Osborn Fjord trapped the surface waters inside the fjord, which led to the formation of a warm and fresh surface layer. These results suggest that the presence of multi-year sea ice increases the sensitivity of Greenland fjords abutting the Arctic Ocean to climate warming, with potential consequences for the long-term stability of the northern sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet. |
author2 |
Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme Vetenskapsrådet |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stranne, Christian Nilsson, Johan Ulfsbo, Adam O’Regan, Matt Coxall, Helen K. Meire, Lorenz Muchowski, Julia Mayer, Larry A. Brüchert, Volker Fredriksson, Jonas Thornton, Brett Chawarski, Julek West, Gabriel Weidner, Elizabeth Jakobsson, Martin |
author_facet |
Stranne, Christian Nilsson, Johan Ulfsbo, Adam O’Regan, Matt Coxall, Helen K. Meire, Lorenz Muchowski, Julia Mayer, Larry A. Brüchert, Volker Fredriksson, Jonas Thornton, Brett Chawarski, Julek West, Gabriel Weidner, Elizabeth Jakobsson, Martin |
author_sort |
Stranne, Christian |
title |
The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming |
title_short |
The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming |
title_full |
The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming |
title_fullStr |
The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming |
title_full_unstemmed |
The climate sensitivity of northern Greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming |
title_sort |
climate sensitivity of northern greenland fjords is amplified through sea-ice damming |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00140-8 http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00140-8.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00140-8 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-120.378,-120.378,56.604,56.604) ENVELOPE(-61.500,-61.500,81.167,81.167) ENVELOPE(-51.833,-51.833,82.083,82.083) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Osborn Petermann Fjord Sherard Osborn Fjord |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Osborn Petermann Fjord Sherard Osborn Fjord |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Ice Sheet Petermann Fjord Sea ice Sherard Osborn fjord |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Ice Sheet Petermann Fjord Sea ice Sherard Osborn fjord |
op_source |
Communications Earth & Environment volume 2, 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/s43247-021-00140-8 |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766335363016556544 |