Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming
International audience Ice flow along land-terminating margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) varies considerably in response to fluctuating inputs of surface meltwater to the bed of the ice sheet. Such inputs lubricate the ice–bed interface, transiently speeding up the flow of ice1, 2. Greater me...
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-01230099v1 2023-05-15T16:28:16+02:00 Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming Tedstone, Andrew J. Nienow, Peter W. Gourmelen, Noel Dehecq, Amaury Goldberg, Daniel Hanna, Edward School of Geosciences Edinburgh University of Edinburgh Laboratoire d'Informatique, Systèmes, Traitement de l'Information et de la Connaissance (LISTIC) Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry ) Department of Geography Sheffield University of Sheffield Sheffield 2015-10 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01230099 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15722 en eng HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature15722 hal-01230099 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01230099 doi:10.1038/nature15722 ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4679 Nature https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01230099 Nature, Nature Publishing Group, 2015, 526 (7575), pp.692-695. ⟨10.1038/nature15722⟩ [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2015 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15722 2021-11-28T01:13:27Z International audience Ice flow along land-terminating margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) varies considerably in response to fluctuating inputs of surface meltwater to the bed of the ice sheet. Such inputs lubricate the ice–bed interface, transiently speeding up the flow of ice1, 2. Greater melting results in faster ice motion during summer, but slower motion over the subsequent winter, owing to the evolution of an efficient drainage system that enables water to drain from regions of the ice-sheet bed that have a high basal water pressure2, 3. However, the impact of hydrodynamic coupling on ice motion over decadal timescales remains poorly constrained. Here we show that annual ice motion across an 8,000-km2 land-terminating region of the west GIS margin, extending to 1,100 m above sea level, was 12% slower in 2007–14 compared with 1985–94, despite a 50% increase in surface meltwater production. Our findings suggest that, over these three decades, hydrodynamic coupling in this section of the ablation zone resulted in a net slowdown of ice motion (not a speed-up, as previously postulated1). Increases in meltwater production from projected climate warming may therefore further reduce the motion of land-terminating margins of the GIS. Our findings suggest that these sectors of the ice sheet are more resilient to the dynamic impacts of enhanced meltwater production than previously thought. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Greenland Nature 526 7575 692 695 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes Tedstone, Andrew J. Nienow, Peter W. Gourmelen, Noel Dehecq, Amaury Goldberg, Daniel Hanna, Edward Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming |
topic_facet |
[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
description |
International audience Ice flow along land-terminating margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) varies considerably in response to fluctuating inputs of surface meltwater to the bed of the ice sheet. Such inputs lubricate the ice–bed interface, transiently speeding up the flow of ice1, 2. Greater melting results in faster ice motion during summer, but slower motion over the subsequent winter, owing to the evolution of an efficient drainage system that enables water to drain from regions of the ice-sheet bed that have a high basal water pressure2, 3. However, the impact of hydrodynamic coupling on ice motion over decadal timescales remains poorly constrained. Here we show that annual ice motion across an 8,000-km2 land-terminating region of the west GIS margin, extending to 1,100 m above sea level, was 12% slower in 2007–14 compared with 1985–94, despite a 50% increase in surface meltwater production. Our findings suggest that, over these three decades, hydrodynamic coupling in this section of the ablation zone resulted in a net slowdown of ice motion (not a speed-up, as previously postulated1). Increases in meltwater production from projected climate warming may therefore further reduce the motion of land-terminating margins of the GIS. Our findings suggest that these sectors of the ice sheet are more resilient to the dynamic impacts of enhanced meltwater production than previously thought. |
author2 |
School of Geosciences Edinburgh University of Edinburgh Laboratoire d'Informatique, Systèmes, Traitement de l'Information et de la Connaissance (LISTIC) Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry ) Department of Geography Sheffield University of Sheffield Sheffield |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tedstone, Andrew J. Nienow, Peter W. Gourmelen, Noel Dehecq, Amaury Goldberg, Daniel Hanna, Edward |
author_facet |
Tedstone, Andrew J. Nienow, Peter W. Gourmelen, Noel Dehecq, Amaury Goldberg, Daniel Hanna, Edward |
author_sort |
Tedstone, Andrew J. |
title |
Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming |
title_short |
Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming |
title_full |
Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming |
title_fullStr |
Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming |
title_sort |
decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the greenland ice sheet despite warming |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01230099 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15722 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4679 Nature https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01230099 Nature, Nature Publishing Group, 2015, 526 (7575), pp.692-695. ⟨10.1038/nature15722⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/nature15722 hal-01230099 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01230099 doi:10.1038/nature15722 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15722 |
container_title |
Nature |
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526 |
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7575 |
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692 |
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695 |
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1766017901636091904 |