Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events
Dynamic ice discharge from outlet glaciers across the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased since the beginning of the 21st century. Calving from floating ice tongues that buttress these outlets can accelerate ice flow and discharge of grounded ice. However, little is known about the dynamic impact of i...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3907-2018 https://doaj.org/article/207ec4248ac0409485bb2a6e14918de4 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:207ec4248ac0409485bb2a6e14918de4 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:207ec4248ac0409485bb2a6e14918de4 2023-05-15T14:00:59+02:00 Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events E. A. Hill G. H. Gudmundsson J. R. Carr C. R. Stokes 2018-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3907-2018 https://doaj.org/article/207ec4248ac0409485bb2a6e14918de4 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/3907/2018/tc-12-3907-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-12-3907-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/207ec4248ac0409485bb2a6e14918de4 The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 3907-3921 (2018) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3907-2018 2022-12-31T12:43:41Z Dynamic ice discharge from outlet glaciers across the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased since the beginning of the 21st century. Calving from floating ice tongues that buttress these outlets can accelerate ice flow and discharge of grounded ice. However, little is known about the dynamic impact of ice tongue loss in Greenland compared to ice shelf collapse in Antarctica. The rapidly flowing ( ∼1000 m a −1 ) Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland has one of the ice sheet's last remaining ice tongues, but it lost ∼50 %–60 % ( ∼40 km in length) of this tongue via two large calving events in 2010 and 2012. The glacier showed a limited velocity response to these calving events, but it is unclear how sensitive it is to future ice tongue loss. Here, we use an ice flow model (Úa) to assess the instantaneous velocity response of Petermann Glacier to past and future calving events. Our results confirm that the glacier was dynamically insensitive to large calving events in 2010 and 2012 ( <10 % annual acceleration). We then simulate the future loss of similarly sized sections to the 2012 calving event ( ∼8 km long) of the ice tongue back to the grounding line. We conclude that thin, soft sections of the ice tongue >12 km away from the grounding line provide little frontal buttressing, and removing them is unlikely to significantly increase ice velocity or discharge. However, once calving removes ice within 12 km of the grounding line, loss of these thicker and stiffer sections of ice tongue could perturb stresses at the grounding line enough to substantially increase inland flow speeds ( ∼900 m a −1 ), grounded ice discharge, and Petermann Glacier's contribution to global sea level rise. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Petermann glacier The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Buttress ENVELOPE(-57.083,-57.083,-63.550,-63.550) The Cryosphere 12 12 3907 3921 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 E. A. Hill G. H. Gudmundsson J. R. Carr C. R. Stokes Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Dynamic ice discharge from outlet glaciers across the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased since the beginning of the 21st century. Calving from floating ice tongues that buttress these outlets can accelerate ice flow and discharge of grounded ice. However, little is known about the dynamic impact of ice tongue loss in Greenland compared to ice shelf collapse in Antarctica. The rapidly flowing ( ∼1000 m a −1 ) Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland has one of the ice sheet's last remaining ice tongues, but it lost ∼50 %–60 % ( ∼40 km in length) of this tongue via two large calving events in 2010 and 2012. The glacier showed a limited velocity response to these calving events, but it is unclear how sensitive it is to future ice tongue loss. Here, we use an ice flow model (Úa) to assess the instantaneous velocity response of Petermann Glacier to past and future calving events. Our results confirm that the glacier was dynamically insensitive to large calving events in 2010 and 2012 ( <10 % annual acceleration). We then simulate the future loss of similarly sized sections to the 2012 calving event ( ∼8 km long) of the ice tongue back to the grounding line. We conclude that thin, soft sections of the ice tongue >12 km away from the grounding line provide little frontal buttressing, and removing them is unlikely to significantly increase ice velocity or discharge. However, once calving removes ice within 12 km of the grounding line, loss of these thicker and stiffer sections of ice tongue could perturb stresses at the grounding line enough to substantially increase inland flow speeds ( ∼900 m a −1 ), grounded ice discharge, and Petermann Glacier's contribution to global sea level rise. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
E. A. Hill G. H. Gudmundsson J. R. Carr C. R. Stokes |
author_facet |
E. A. Hill G. H. Gudmundsson J. R. Carr C. R. Stokes |
author_sort |
E. A. Hill |
title |
Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events |
title_short |
Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events |
title_full |
Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events |
title_fullStr |
Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events |
title_full_unstemmed |
Velocity response of Petermann Glacier, northwest Greenland, to past and future calving events |
title_sort |
velocity response of petermann glacier, northwest greenland, to past and future calving events |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3907-2018 https://doaj.org/article/207ec4248ac0409485bb2a6e14918de4 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-57.083,-57.083,-63.550,-63.550) |
geographic |
Greenland Buttress |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Buttress |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Petermann glacier The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Petermann glacier The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 3907-3921 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/3907/2018/tc-12-3907-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-12-3907-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/207ec4248ac0409485bb2a6e14918de4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3907-2018 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
3907 |
op_container_end_page |
3921 |
_version_ |
1766270395994865664 |