Investigating the interaction between ocean current variability and glacier activity by Thrym glacier, SE-Greenland

• Main Authors: Wangner, David J., Kjeldsen, Kristian K., Sicre, Marie-Alexandrine, Jaeger, John M., Klein, Vincent, Vermassen, Flor, Kjær, Kurt H., Andresen, Camilla S.
• Other Authors: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Natural History Museum of Denmark, Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Greenland; Irminger Sea; Skjoldungen; glacier; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03503485

International audience Heat transport via ocean currents can have a crucial impact on the melting of marine terminating glaciers in Greenland. To investigate the influence of ocean temperature changes on the glaciodynamics of Thrym glacier over longer timescales we present a marine sediment record from the Skjoldungen fjord by Thrym Glacier in SE Greenland. 210Pb-dating combined with a radiocarbon date reveals that the core covers the past 220 years from 1790 AD until 2011 AD. High-resolution grainsize analyses representing the calving activity of Thrym glacier and sea surface temperature (SST) derived from alkenones were conducted. During the investigated timespan, the alkenone based SSTs vary between 5 and 12 ◦C. The high temperatures, in comparison with present SST in thefjord of 0-2 degree Celsius, indicate, in similarity with other alkenone reconstructions from SE Greenland, that the alkenones were produced further off shore in the Irminger Sea and advected with the inflow of surface waters into the fjord. We compare this record of Irminger SST variability with the reconstructed calving activity and furthermore with other similar studies in SE- Greenland. This will help to understand the regional sensitivity ofGreenland Ice Sheet (GIS) melt resulting from heat transport associated with the subpolar gyre circulation and aid in our understanding of the future behavior of the GIS under a warming climate