Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)
Abstract The centennial response of land‐terminating glaciers in Greenland to climate change is largely unknown. Yet, such information is important to understand ongoing changes and for projecting the future evolution of Arctic subpolar glaciers, meltwater runoff, and sediment fluxes. This paper ana...
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crwiley:10.1002/esp.5638 2024-06-02T08:02:34+00:00 Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) Carrivick, Jonathan L. Smith, Mark W. Sutherland, Jenna L. Grimes, Michael Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media, City University of Hong Kong 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.5638 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.5638 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Earth Surface Processes and Landforms volume 48, issue 13, page 2446-2462 ISSN 0197-9337 1096-9837 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5638 2024-05-03T12:06:15Z Abstract The centennial response of land‐terminating glaciers in Greenland to climate change is largely unknown. Yet, such information is important to understand ongoing changes and for projecting the future evolution of Arctic subpolar glaciers, meltwater runoff, and sediment fluxes. This paper analyses the topography, geomorphology, and sedimentology of prominent moraine ridges and the proglacial areas of ice cap outlet glaciers on the Qaanaaq peninsula (Piulip Nunaa). We determine geometric changes of glaciers since the neoglacial maximum; the Little Ice Age (LIA), and we compare glacier behaviour during the LIA with that of the present day. There has been very little change in the rate of volume loss of each outlet glacier since the LIA compared with the rate between 2000 and 2019. However, the percentage of each glacier that is likely composed of cold‐based ice has increased since the LIA, typically by 20%. The LIA moraines comprise subrounded, striated, and faceted clasts that evidence subglacial transport, and outwash plains, flutes, kames, and eskers that evidence subglacial motion and meltwater within temperate ice. Contrastingly, contemporary ice margins and their convex ice surfaces comprise pronounced primary foliation, ephemeral supraglacial drainage, sediment drapes from thrust plane fractures, and an absence of open crevasses and moulins. These calculations and observations together lead us to interpret that these outlet glaciers have transitioned towards an increasingly cold‐based thermal regime despite a warming regional climate. Thermal regime transitions control glacier dynamics and therefore should be incorporated into glacier evolution models, especially where polythermal glaciers prevail and where climate is changing rapidly. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change glacier Greenland Ice cap kalaallit Kalaallit Nunaat Qaanaaq Wiley Online Library Arctic Greenland Piulip Nunaa ENVELOPE(-69.298,-69.298,77.580,77.580) Qaanaaq ENVELOPE(-69.232,-69.232,77.467,77.467) Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 48 13 2446 2462 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The centennial response of land‐terminating glaciers in Greenland to climate change is largely unknown. Yet, such information is important to understand ongoing changes and for projecting the future evolution of Arctic subpolar glaciers, meltwater runoff, and sediment fluxes. This paper analyses the topography, geomorphology, and sedimentology of prominent moraine ridges and the proglacial areas of ice cap outlet glaciers on the Qaanaaq peninsula (Piulip Nunaa). We determine geometric changes of glaciers since the neoglacial maximum; the Little Ice Age (LIA), and we compare glacier behaviour during the LIA with that of the present day. There has been very little change in the rate of volume loss of each outlet glacier since the LIA compared with the rate between 2000 and 2019. However, the percentage of each glacier that is likely composed of cold‐based ice has increased since the LIA, typically by 20%. The LIA moraines comprise subrounded, striated, and faceted clasts that evidence subglacial transport, and outwash plains, flutes, kames, and eskers that evidence subglacial motion and meltwater within temperate ice. Contrastingly, contemporary ice margins and their convex ice surfaces comprise pronounced primary foliation, ephemeral supraglacial drainage, sediment drapes from thrust plane fractures, and an absence of open crevasses and moulins. These calculations and observations together lead us to interpret that these outlet glaciers have transitioned towards an increasingly cold‐based thermal regime despite a warming regional climate. Thermal regime transitions control glacier dynamics and therefore should be incorporated into glacier evolution models, especially where polythermal glaciers prevail and where climate is changing rapidly. |
author2 |
Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media, City University of Hong Kong |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carrivick, Jonathan L. Smith, Mark W. Sutherland, Jenna L. Grimes, Michael |
spellingShingle |
Carrivick, Jonathan L. Smith, Mark W. Sutherland, Jenna L. Grimes, Michael Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) |
author_facet |
Carrivick, Jonathan L. Smith, Mark W. Sutherland, Jenna L. Grimes, Michael |
author_sort |
Carrivick, Jonathan L. |
title |
Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) |
title_short |
Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) |
title_full |
Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) |
title_fullStr |
Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the Little Ice Age at Qaanaaq, northwest Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) |
title_sort |
cooling glaciers in a warming climate since the little ice age at qaanaaq, northwest kalaallit nunaat (greenland) |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.5638 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.5638 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-69.298,-69.298,77.580,77.580) ENVELOPE(-69.232,-69.232,77.467,77.467) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Piulip Nunaa Qaanaaq |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Piulip Nunaa Qaanaaq |
genre |
Arctic Climate change glacier Greenland Ice cap kalaallit Kalaallit Nunaat Qaanaaq |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change glacier Greenland Ice cap kalaallit Kalaallit Nunaat Qaanaaq |
op_source |
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms volume 48, issue 13, page 2446-2462 ISSN 0197-9337 1096-9837 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5638 |
container_title |
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms |
container_volume |
48 |
container_issue |
13 |
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2446 |
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2462 |
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1800747047144390656 |