LETTERS Acceleration of Jakobshavn Isbræ triggered by warm subsurface ocean waters

• Main Authors: David M. Holland, Robert H. Thomas, Brad De Young, Mads H. Ribergaard
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Greenland; Irminger Sea; Jakobshavn Isbræ; Antarc*; Antarctica; glacier; Jakobshavn; Jakobshavn isbræ
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.180.948; http://efdl.cims.nyu.edu/publications/refereed/ngeo_greenland_08.pdf

Observations over the past decades show a rapid acceleration of several outlet glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica 1. One of the largest changes is a sudden switch of Jakobshavn Isbræ, a large outlet glacier feeding a deep-ocean fjord on Greenland’s west coast, from slow thickening to rapid thinning 2 in 1997, associated with a doubling in glacier velocity 3. Suggested explanations for the speed-up of Jakobshavn Isbræ include increased lubrication of the ice–bedrock interface as more meltwater has drained to the glacier bed during recent warmer summers 4 and weakening and break-up of the floating ice tongue that buttressed the glacier 5. Here we present hydrographic data that show a sudden increase in subsurface ocean temperature in 1997 along the entire west coast of Greenland, suggesting that the changes in Jakobshavn Isbræ were instead triggered by the arrival of relatively warm water originating from the Irminger Sea near