Investigating the dynamics of Greenland's glacier-fjord systems ...

• Main Author: Davison, Benjamin Joseph
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of St Andrews 2021
• Subjects: Greenland; Glaciers; Ice flow; Ice dynamics; Ice-ocean interaction; Fjord circulation; Subglacial hydrology; glacier; Ice Sheet; Tidewater
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17630/sta/729; https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/29146

Over the past two decades, Greenland’s tidewater glaciers have dramatically retreated, thinned and accelerated, contributing significantly to sea level rise. This change in glacier behaviour is thought to have been triggered by increasing atmospheric and ocean temperatures, and mass loss from Greenland’s tidewater glaciers is predicted to continue this century. Substantial research during this period of rapid glacier change has improved our understanding of Greenland’s glacier-fjord systems. However, many of the processes operating in these systems that ultimately control the response of tidewater glaciers to changing atmospheric and oceanic conditions are poorly understood. This thesis combines modelling and remote sensing to investigate two particularly poorly-understood components of glacier-fjord systems, with the ultimate aim of improving understanding of recent glacier behaviour and constraining the stability of the ice sheet in a changing climate. The research presented in this thesis begins with an ...