A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland
ABSTRACT The calving of glaciers regularly produces tsunami‐like waves that pose a serious threat to coastal environments. Those strong waves are not only able to move ice mélange and redistribute icebergs, growlers, or sea ice across a fjord but also flood and remodel neighbouring cliffs and beache...
Published in: | Permafrost and Periglacial Processes |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.2235 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp.2235 |
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crwiley:10.1002/ppp.2235 2024-06-23T07:53:02+00:00 A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland Kostrzewa, Oskar Szczypińska, Małgorzata Kavan, Jan Senderak, Krzysztof Novák, Milan Strzelecki, Mateusz C. Narodowe Centrum Nauki 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.2235 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp.2235 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Permafrost and Periglacial Processes ISSN 1045-6740 1099-1530 journal-article 2024 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.2235 2024-06-06T04:22:08Z ABSTRACT The calving of glaciers regularly produces tsunami‐like waves that pose a serious threat to coastal environments. Those strong waves are not only able to move ice mélange and redistribute icebergs, growlers, or sea ice across a fjord but also flood and remodel neighbouring cliffs and beaches. Here, we analyze over 90 years (1929–2023) of coastal zone changes that occurred in front of Eqip Sermia. We show that calving waves play a dominant role in transforming the lateral moraine and forming a beach and spit system south of the glacier front. Part of the former moraine has transformed into a boulder‐dominated spit, which closed the lagoon over the years. By multidecadal analysis, we also detected a significant erosion of unconsolidated cliffs located on the opposite side of the bay (~0.53 m per year between 1985 and 2023). In addition, we demonstrate that even a single event (one calving wave) can remodel a beach surface by entrainment of up to 1.8‐m‐diameter boulders and the erosion of the beach surface by washing away sand and gravel from rocky outcrops. Our study constitutes important progress toward modes of paraglacial coastal evolution in regions characterized by rapidly retreating calving glaciers. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Sea ice Wiley Online Library Eqip Sermia ENVELOPE(-50.067,-50.067,69.817,69.817) Greenland Permafrost and Periglacial Processes |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT The calving of glaciers regularly produces tsunami‐like waves that pose a serious threat to coastal environments. Those strong waves are not only able to move ice mélange and redistribute icebergs, growlers, or sea ice across a fjord but also flood and remodel neighbouring cliffs and beaches. Here, we analyze over 90 years (1929–2023) of coastal zone changes that occurred in front of Eqip Sermia. We show that calving waves play a dominant role in transforming the lateral moraine and forming a beach and spit system south of the glacier front. Part of the former moraine has transformed into a boulder‐dominated spit, which closed the lagoon over the years. By multidecadal analysis, we also detected a significant erosion of unconsolidated cliffs located on the opposite side of the bay (~0.53 m per year between 1985 and 2023). In addition, we demonstrate that even a single event (one calving wave) can remodel a beach surface by entrainment of up to 1.8‐m‐diameter boulders and the erosion of the beach surface by washing away sand and gravel from rocky outcrops. Our study constitutes important progress toward modes of paraglacial coastal evolution in regions characterized by rapidly retreating calving glaciers. |
author2 |
Narodowe Centrum Nauki |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kostrzewa, Oskar Szczypińska, Małgorzata Kavan, Jan Senderak, Krzysztof Novák, Milan Strzelecki, Mateusz C. |
spellingShingle |
Kostrzewa, Oskar Szczypińska, Małgorzata Kavan, Jan Senderak, Krzysztof Novák, Milan Strzelecki, Mateusz C. A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland |
author_facet |
Kostrzewa, Oskar Szczypińska, Małgorzata Kavan, Jan Senderak, Krzysztof Novák, Milan Strzelecki, Mateusz C. |
author_sort |
Kostrzewa, Oskar |
title |
A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland |
title_short |
A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland |
title_full |
A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Boulder Beach Formed by Waves From a Calving Glacier Revisited: Multidecadal Tsunami–Controlled Coastal Changes in Front of Eqip Sermia, West Greenland |
title_sort |
boulder beach formed by waves from a calving glacier revisited: multidecadal tsunami–controlled coastal changes in front of eqip sermia, west greenland |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp.2235 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp.2235 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-50.067,-50.067,69.817,69.817) |
geographic |
Eqip Sermia Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Eqip Sermia Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Sea ice |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Sea ice |
op_source |
Permafrost and Periglacial Processes ISSN 1045-6740 1099-1530 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.2235 |
container_title |
Permafrost and Periglacial Processes |
_version_ |
1802644504087363584 |