A Major Collapse of Kangerlussuaq Glacier's Ice Tongue Between 1932 and 1933 in East Greenland

In recent years, several large outlet glaciers in Greenland lost their floating ice tongue, yet little is known regarding their stability over a longer timescale. Here we compile historical documents to demonstrate a major ice tongue collapse of Kangerlussuaq Glacier between 1932 and 1933. This even...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Vermassen, Flor, Bjørk, Anders A., Sicre, Marie Alexandrine, Jaeger, John M., Wangner, David J., Kjeldsen, Kristian K., Siggaard-Andersen, Marie Louise, Klein, Vincent, Mouginot, Jeremie, Kjær, Kurt H., Andresen, Camilla S.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
alkenones
Glacier retreat
historical documents
IRD
Kangerlussuaq Glacier
East Greenland
glacier
Greenland
Kangerlussuaq
North Greenland
Online Access:https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/a-major-collapse-of-kangerlussuaq-glaciers-ice-tongue-between-1932-and-1933-in-east-greenland(c7a3a864-095e-4da8-ab0b-d1b229f258ec).html
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085954
https://curis.ku.dk/ws/files/242417291/2019GL085954.pdf
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Summary:In recent years, several large outlet glaciers in Greenland lost their floating ice tongue, yet little is known regarding their stability over a longer timescale. Here we compile historical documents to demonstrate a major ice tongue collapse of Kangerlussuaq Glacier between 1932 and 1933. This event resulted in a 9-km retreat, exceeding any of the glacier's recent major retreat events. Sediment cores from the fjord are used to reconstruct sea surface temperatures and to investigate a potential sedimentological trace of the collapse. During the 1920s, local and regional sea surface temperatures and air temperatures increased rapidly, suggesting a climatic trigger for the collapse. Fjord bathymetry played an important role too, as the (partially) pinned ice tongue retreated off a submarine moraine during the event. This historical analogue of a glacier tongue collapse emphasizes the fragility of remaining ice tongues in North Greenland within a warming climate.

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