Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland
Marine-terminating glaciers play a critical role in controlling Greenland's ice sheet mass balance. Their frontal margins interact vigorously with the ocean, but our understanding of this interaction is limited, in part, by a lack of bathymetry data. Here we present a multibeam echo sounding su...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vw300dt https://escholarship.org/content/qt0vw300dt/qt0vw300dt.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl067832 |
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt0vw300dt 2024-09-15T18:07:39+00:00 Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland Rignot, E Fenty, I Xu, Y Cai, C Velicogna, I Cofaigh, CÓ Dowdeswell, JA Weinrebe, W Catania, G Duncan, D 2667 - 2674 2016-03-28 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vw300dt https://escholarship.org/content/qt0vw300dt/qt0vw300dt.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl067832 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt0vw300dt https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vw300dt https://escholarship.org/content/qt0vw300dt/qt0vw300dt.pdf doi:10.1002/2016gl067832 public Geophysical Research Letters, vol 43, iss 6 Life Below Water Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences article 2016 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl067832 2024-06-28T06:28:19Z Marine-terminating glaciers play a critical role in controlling Greenland's ice sheet mass balance. Their frontal margins interact vigorously with the ocean, but our understanding of this interaction is limited, in part, by a lack of bathymetry data. Here we present a multibeam echo sounding survey of 14 glacial fjords in the Uummannaq and Vaigat fjords, west Greenland, which extends from the continental shelf to the glacier fronts. The data reveal valleys with shallow sills, overdeepenings (>1300 m) from glacial erosion, and seafloor depths 100-1000 m deeper than in existing charts. Where fjords are deep enough, we detect the pervasive presence of warm, salty Atlantic Water (AW) (>2.5°C) with high melt potential, but we also find numerous glaciers grounded on shallow (<200 m) sills, standing in cold (<1°C) waters in otherwise deep fjords, i.e., with reduced melt potential. Bathymetric observations extending to the glacier fronts are critical to understand the glacier evolution. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Uummannaq University of California: eScholarship Geophysical Research Letters 43 6 2667 2674 |
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Open Polar |
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University of California: eScholarship |
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unknown |
topic |
Life Below Water Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
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Life Below Water Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Rignot, E Fenty, I Xu, Y Cai, C Velicogna, I Cofaigh, CÓ Dowdeswell, JA Weinrebe, W Catania, G Duncan, D Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
topic_facet |
Life Below Water Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
description |
Marine-terminating glaciers play a critical role in controlling Greenland's ice sheet mass balance. Their frontal margins interact vigorously with the ocean, but our understanding of this interaction is limited, in part, by a lack of bathymetry data. Here we present a multibeam echo sounding survey of 14 glacial fjords in the Uummannaq and Vaigat fjords, west Greenland, which extends from the continental shelf to the glacier fronts. The data reveal valleys with shallow sills, overdeepenings (>1300 m) from glacial erosion, and seafloor depths 100-1000 m deeper than in existing charts. Where fjords are deep enough, we detect the pervasive presence of warm, salty Atlantic Water (AW) (>2.5°C) with high melt potential, but we also find numerous glaciers grounded on shallow (<200 m) sills, standing in cold (<1°C) waters in otherwise deep fjords, i.e., with reduced melt potential. Bathymetric observations extending to the glacier fronts are critical to understand the glacier evolution. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rignot, E Fenty, I Xu, Y Cai, C Velicogna, I Cofaigh, CÓ Dowdeswell, JA Weinrebe, W Catania, G Duncan, D |
author_facet |
Rignot, E Fenty, I Xu, Y Cai, C Velicogna, I Cofaigh, CÓ Dowdeswell, JA Weinrebe, W Catania, G Duncan, D |
author_sort |
Rignot, E |
title |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_short |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_full |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_sort |
bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice‐ocean interaction in uummannaq and vaigat glacial fjords, west greenland |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vw300dt https://escholarship.org/content/qt0vw300dt/qt0vw300dt.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl067832 |
op_coverage |
2667 - 2674 |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Uummannaq |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Uummannaq |
op_source |
Geophysical Research Letters, vol 43, iss 6 |
op_relation |
qt0vw300dt https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vw300dt https://escholarship.org/content/qt0vw300dt/qt0vw300dt.pdf doi:10.1002/2016gl067832 |
op_rights |
public |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl067832 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2667 |
op_container_end_page |
2674 |
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1810445037730791424 |