Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming
The inland advance of supraglacial lakes (SGLs) towards the interior regions of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) may have implications for the water volumes reaching the subglacial drainage system, and could consequently affect long-term ice-sheet dynamics. Here, we investigate changes to the areas, v...
Published in: | Annals of Glaciology |
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Cambridge University Press
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4e672f370b694cb3b8573d84e9da7208 2023-05-15T13:29:32+02:00 Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming Laura A. Gledhill Andrew G. Williamson 2018-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.31 https://doaj.org/article/4e672f370b694cb3b8573d84e9da7208 EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305517000313/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0260-3055 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5644 doi:10.1017/aog.2017.31 0260-3055 1727-5644 https://doaj.org/article/4e672f370b694cb3b8573d84e9da7208 Annals of Glaciology, Vol 59, Pp 66-82 (2018) Arctic glaciology climate change ice and climate melt – surface remote sensing Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.31 2023-03-12T01:31:57Z The inland advance of supraglacial lakes (SGLs) towards the interior regions of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) may have implications for the water volumes reaching the subglacial drainage system, and could consequently affect long-term ice-sheet dynamics. Here, we investigate changes to the areas, volumes and elevation distributions of over 8000 manually delineated SGLs using 44 Landsat images of a 6200 km2 sector of north-west Greenland over three decades (1985–2016). Our results show that SGLs have advanced to higher maximum (+418 m) and mean (+299 m) elevations, and that there has been a near-doubling of total regional SGL areas and volumes over the study period, accelerating after 2000. These changes were primarily caused by an increased SGL area and volume at high (≥1200 m a.s.l.) elevations, where SGL coverage increased by over 2750% during the study period. Many of the observed changes, particularly the post-2000 accelerations, were driven by changes to regional surface-temperature anomalies. This study demonstrates the past and accelerating response of the GrIS's hydrological system due to climatic warming, indicating an urgent need to understand whether the increasingly inland SGLs will be capable of hydrofracture in the future, thus determining their potential implications for ice-sheet dynamics. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology Arctic Climate change Greenland Ice Sheet Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Greenland Annals of Glaciology 59 76pt1 66 82 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic glaciology climate change ice and climate melt – surface remote sensing Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic glaciology climate change ice and climate melt – surface remote sensing Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Laura A. Gledhill Andrew G. Williamson Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming |
topic_facet |
Arctic glaciology climate change ice and climate melt – surface remote sensing Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
The inland advance of supraglacial lakes (SGLs) towards the interior regions of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) may have implications for the water volumes reaching the subglacial drainage system, and could consequently affect long-term ice-sheet dynamics. Here, we investigate changes to the areas, volumes and elevation distributions of over 8000 manually delineated SGLs using 44 Landsat images of a 6200 km2 sector of north-west Greenland over three decades (1985–2016). Our results show that SGLs have advanced to higher maximum (+418 m) and mean (+299 m) elevations, and that there has been a near-doubling of total regional SGL areas and volumes over the study period, accelerating after 2000. These changes were primarily caused by an increased SGL area and volume at high (≥1200 m a.s.l.) elevations, where SGL coverage increased by over 2750% during the study period. Many of the observed changes, particularly the post-2000 accelerations, were driven by changes to regional surface-temperature anomalies. This study demonstrates the past and accelerating response of the GrIS's hydrological system due to climatic warming, indicating an urgent need to understand whether the increasingly inland SGLs will be capable of hydrofracture in the future, thus determining their potential implications for ice-sheet dynamics. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Laura A. Gledhill Andrew G. Williamson |
author_facet |
Laura A. Gledhill Andrew G. Williamson |
author_sort |
Laura A. Gledhill |
title |
Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming |
title_short |
Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming |
title_full |
Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming |
title_fullStr |
Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming |
title_full_unstemmed |
Inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west Greenland under recent climatic warming |
title_sort |
inland advance of supraglacial lakes in north-west greenland under recent climatic warming |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.31 https://doaj.org/article/4e672f370b694cb3b8573d84e9da7208 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology Arctic Climate change Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology Arctic Climate change Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Annals of Glaciology, Vol 59, Pp 66-82 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305517000313/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0260-3055 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5644 doi:10.1017/aog.2017.31 0260-3055 1727-5644 https://doaj.org/article/4e672f370b694cb3b8573d84e9da7208 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2017.31 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
59 |
container_issue |
76pt1 |
container_start_page |
66 |
op_container_end_page |
82 |
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1766001114737541120 |