Programme for monitoring of the Greenland ice sheet (PROMICE): Calving front line, 1999-2018

• Main Authors: Robert Schjøtt Fausto, Jonas Andersen, Karina Hansen, Jason Eric Box, Signe Bech Andersen, Andreas Peter Ahlstrøm, Dirk van As, Michele Citterio, William Colgan, Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson, Kristian Kjellerup Kjeldsen, Niels Jakup Korsgaard, Signe Hillerup Larsen, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Allan Østerby Pedersen, Christopher L. Shields, Anne Solgaard, Baptiste Vandecrux, PROMICE Scientific Data
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2019
• Subjects: Arctic Report Card 2020; Arctic; Greenland; Hayes; Pedersen; Hagen; Ryder; Avannarleq; Sermeq Avannarleq; Ikertivaq; Inngia; glacier; Ice Sheet; Iceberg*; Jakobshavn; Kangia; Sermilik; Upernavik
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.22008/promice/data/calving_front_lines

Marine terminating outlet glacier calving front lines. We update a collection of annual end-of-melt-season calving front lines for 47 of the largest Greenland outlet glaciers. The Greenland calving front lines are based on optical satellite imagery from Landsat, Aster, and Sentinel-2. The end-of-melt-season calving front line product is available as ESRI shapefiles. The Greenland ice sheet has been losing mass in response to increased surface melting as well as discharge of ice from marine terminating outlet glaciers. Marine terminating outlet glaciers flow to the ocean where they lose mass by e.g. iceberg calving. Currently, the mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet is the largest Arctic contributor to global sea-level rise. Therefore, monitoring changes in the Greenland ice sheet is essential to provide policy makers with reliable data. There is a consensus that most marine terminating outlet glaciers have retreated in recent decades, and that the increased calving rates are a response to recent atmospheric and oceanic warming. The rate of dynamic mass loss is determined by changes of the glacier calving front (i.e. its terminus) position, ice thickness and changes in ice flow. Ocean temperature and fjord circulation also influence the calving front stability by melting the glacier below the water line, thinning the ice that is in contact with water. Change in calving front position is therefore an important indicator for monitoring the dynamic behaviour of the upstream area of the ice sheet, which is further modulated by local topographic features and buttressing effects. Andersen, J.K., Fausto, R.S., Hansen, K., Box, J.E., Andersen, S.B., Ahlstrøm, A.P., van As, D., Citterio, M., Colgan, W., Karlsson, N.B., Kjeldsen, K.K., Korsgaard, N.J., Larsen, S.H., Mankoff, K.D., Pedersen, A.Ø., Shields, C.L., Solgaard, A. and Vandecrux, B., (2019). Programme for monitoring of the Greenland ice sheet (PROMICE): Calving front line. Dataset published via Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22008/promice/data/calving_front_lines Andersen, J.K., Fausto, R.S., Hansen, K., Box, J.E., Andersen, S.B., Ahlstrøm, A.P., van As, D., Citterio, M., Colgan, W., Karlsson, N.B., Kjeldsen, K.K., Korsgaard, N.J., Larsen, S.H., Mankoff, K.D., Pedersen, A.Ø., Shields, C.L., Solgaard, A. and Vandecrux, B. 2019: Update of annual calving front lines for 47 marine terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland (1999–2018). Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 43, e2019430202. https://doi.org/10.34194/GEUSB-201943-02-02