Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Slab Expansion and Thickening
We use airborne accumulation radar data acquired over the Greenland Ice Sheet between 2002 and 2018 to identify changes in ice slab extent and thickness. We show that ice slabs several meters thick were already present at least as early as 2002. Between 2012 and 2018, they expanded by 13,400–17,600...
| Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/59039/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/59039/1/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202023%20-%20Jullien%20-%20Greenland%20Ice%20Sheet%20Ice%20Slab%20Expansion%20and%20Thickening.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl100911 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.410209cd-b414-45c2-b44b-a2aa0cb7e028 |
| Summary: | We use airborne accumulation radar data acquired over the Greenland Ice Sheet between 2002 and 2018 to identify changes in ice slab extent and thickness. We show that ice slabs several meters thick were already present at least as early as 2002. Between 2012 and 2018, they expanded by 13,400–17,600 (Formula presented.) inland, or 37%–44%. Our results document that the extremely warm summer of 2012 produced near-surface ice layers at higher elevations, enabling ice slabs to develop with only moderate melting in the following summers. With repeat flights along a transect in southwest Greenland, we show that moderate melting primarily causes slab thickening through uniform accretion on top of the ice slabs, while large melting events can also trigger localized accretion below existing ice slabs. |
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