Sensitivity of calving glaciers to ice-ocean interactions under climate change: New insights from a 3D full-Stokes model ...

• Main Authors: Todd, Joe, Christoffersen, Poul, Zwinger, Thomas, Råback, Peter, Benn, Douglas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2019
• Subjects: 37 Earth Sciences; 3709 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience; 3705 Geology; 13 Climate Action; Greenland; glacier; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.40751; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/293638

Iceberg calving accounts for between 30% and 60% of net mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet, which has intensified and is now the single largest contributor to global sea level rise in the cryosphere. Changes to calving rates and the dynamics of calving glaciers represent a significant uncertainty in projections of future sea level rise. A growing body of observational evidence suggests that calving glaciers respond rapidly to regional environmental change, but predictive capacity is limited by the lack of suitable models capable of simulating calving mechanisms realistically. Here, we use a 3-D full-Stokes calving model to investigate the environmental sensitivity of Store Glacier, a large outlet glacier inWest Greenland.We focus on two environmental processes: undercutting by submarine melting and buttressing by ice mélange, and our results indicate that Store Glacier is likely to be able to withstand moderate warming perturbations in which the former is increased by 50% and the latter reduced by 50 %. ...