Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age
Late 20th century and 21st century satellite imagery of the perimeter of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) provide high resolution observations of the ice sheet margins. Examining changes in ice margin positions over time yield measurements of GrIS area change and rates of margin retreat. However, long...
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2014
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt9tj49005 2023-05-15T16:21:21+02:00 Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age Beitch, Marci Jillian Tulaczyk, Slawek M 2014-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9tj49005 en eng eScholarship, University of California qt9tj49005 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9tj49005 public Geology Remote sensing Physical geography glacier Greenland Ice Sheet ice sheet Landsat Little Ice Age trimzone etd 2014 ftcdlib 2020-06-06T07:55:46Z Late 20th century and 21st century satellite imagery of the perimeter of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) provide high resolution observations of the ice sheet margins. Examining changes in ice margin positions over time yield measurements of GrIS area change and rates of margin retreat. However, longer records of ice sheet margin change are needed to establish more accurate predictions of the ice sheet's future response to global conditions. In this study, the trimzone, the area of deglaciated terrain along the ice sheet edge that lacks mature vegetation cover, is used as a marker of the maximum extent of the ice from its most recent major advance during the Little Ice Age. We compile recently acquired Landsat ETM+ scenes covering the perimeter of the GrIS on which we map area loss on land-, lake-, and marine-terminating margins. We measure an area loss of 13,327 ± 830 km2, which corresponds to 0.8% shrinkage of the ice sheet. This equates to an averaged horizontal retreat of 363 ± 69 m across the entire GrIS margin. Mapping the areas exposed since the Little Ice Age maximum, circa 1900 C.E., yields a century-scale rate of change. On average the ice sheet lost an area of 120 ± 16 km2/yr, or retreated at a rate of 3.3 ± 0.7 m/yr since the LIA maximum. Other/Unknown Material glacier Greenland Ice Sheet University of California: eScholarship Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
English |
topic |
Geology Remote sensing Physical geography glacier Greenland Ice Sheet ice sheet Landsat Little Ice Age trimzone |
spellingShingle |
Geology Remote sensing Physical geography glacier Greenland Ice Sheet ice sheet Landsat Little Ice Age trimzone Beitch, Marci Jillian Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age |
topic_facet |
Geology Remote sensing Physical geography glacier Greenland Ice Sheet ice sheet Landsat Little Ice Age trimzone |
description |
Late 20th century and 21st century satellite imagery of the perimeter of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) provide high resolution observations of the ice sheet margins. Examining changes in ice margin positions over time yield measurements of GrIS area change and rates of margin retreat. However, longer records of ice sheet margin change are needed to establish more accurate predictions of the ice sheet's future response to global conditions. In this study, the trimzone, the area of deglaciated terrain along the ice sheet edge that lacks mature vegetation cover, is used as a marker of the maximum extent of the ice from its most recent major advance during the Little Ice Age. We compile recently acquired Landsat ETM+ scenes covering the perimeter of the GrIS on which we map area loss on land-, lake-, and marine-terminating margins. We measure an area loss of 13,327 ± 830 km2, which corresponds to 0.8% shrinkage of the ice sheet. This equates to an averaged horizontal retreat of 363 ± 69 m across the entire GrIS margin. Mapping the areas exposed since the Little Ice Age maximum, circa 1900 C.E., yields a century-scale rate of change. On average the ice sheet lost an area of 120 ± 16 km2/yr, or retreated at a rate of 3.3 ± 0.7 m/yr since the LIA maximum. |
author2 |
Tulaczyk, Slawek M |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Beitch, Marci Jillian |
author_facet |
Beitch, Marci Jillian |
author_sort |
Beitch, Marci Jillian |
title |
Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age |
title_short |
Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age |
title_full |
Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age |
title_fullStr |
Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age |
title_full_unstemmed |
Greenland Ice Sheet Retreat Since the Little Ice Age |
title_sort |
greenland ice sheet retreat since the little ice age |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9tj49005 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
qt9tj49005 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9tj49005 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1766009362372886528 |