Modelling intra-annual dynamics of a major marine-terminating Arctic glacier
Significant intra-annual variability in flow rates of tidewater-terminating Arctic glaciers has been observed in recent years. These changes may result from oceanic and/or atmospheric forcing through (1) perturbations at the terminus, such as enhanced submarine melt and changes in sea-ice buttressin...
| Published in: | Annals of Glaciology |
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| Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
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Annals of Glaciology
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arcabc.ca/islandora/object/twu%3A430 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/9BA9EFDDF0BD74B9C848B2446094399D/S0260305517000234a.pdf/ https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.23 |
| Summary: | Significant intra-annual variability in flow rates of tidewater-terminating Arctic glaciers has been observed in recent years. These changes may result from oceanic and/or atmospheric forcing through (1) perturbations at the terminus, such as enhanced submarine melt and changes in sea-ice buttressing, or (2) increased surface melt, in response to atmospheric warming, reaching the bed and promoting glacier slip. We examine the influence of these processes on Belcher Glacier, a large fast-flowing tidewater outlet of the Devon Island ice cap in the Canadian Arctic. A hydrologically-coupled higher-order ice flow model is used to estimate changes in glacier flow speed as a result of changes in sea-ice buttressing and hydrologically-driven melt-season dynamics. Daily run-off from five sub-catchments over the 2008 and 2009 melt seasons provides meltwater forcing for the model simulations. Model results are compared with remotely-sensed and in situ ice-surface velocity measurements. Sea-ice effects are found to have a minor influence on glacier flow speed relative to that of meltwater drainage, which is clearly implicated in short-term velocity variations during the melt season. We find that threshold drainage is essential in determining the timing of these short-lived accelerations. Peer reviewed |
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