Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt
Increasing ocean and air temperatures have contributed to the removal of floating ice shelves from several Greenland outlet glaciers; however, the specific contribution of these external forcings remains poorly understood. Here we use atmospheric, oceanographic and glaciological time series data fro...
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Cambridge University Press
2019
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.43 https://doaj.org/article/70c4297d0ae24291ae753950aeedc07d |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:70c4297d0ae24291ae753950aeedc07d 2023-05-15T16:26:43+02:00 Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt PETER WASHAM KEITH W. NICHOLLS ANDREAS MÜNCHOW LAURIE PADMAN 2019-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.43 https://doaj.org/article/70c4297d0ae24291ae753950aeedc07d EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143019000431/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2019.43 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/70c4297d0ae24291ae753950aeedc07d Journal of Glaciology, Vol 65, Pp 662-674 (2019) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.43 2023-03-12T01:30:57Z Increasing ocean and air temperatures have contributed to the removal of floating ice shelves from several Greenland outlet glaciers; however, the specific contribution of these external forcings remains poorly understood. Here we use atmospheric, oceanographic and glaciological time series data from the ice shelf of Petermann Gletscher, NW Greenland to quantify the forcing of the ocean and atmosphere on the ice shelf at a site ~16 km from the grounding line within a large sub-ice-shelf channel. Basal melt rates here indicate a strong seasonality, rising from a winter mean of 2 m a−1 to a maximum of 80 m a−1 during the summer melt season. This increase in basal melt rates confirms the direct link between summer atmospheric warming around Greenland and enhanced ocean-forced melting of its remaining ice shelves. We attribute this enhanced melting to increased discharge of subglacial runoff into the ocean at the grounding line, which strengthens under-ice currents and drives a greater ocean heat flux toward the ice base. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Petermann gletscher Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Petermann Gletscher ENVELOPE(-59.500,-59.500,80.500,80.500) Journal of Glaciology 65 252 662 674 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 PETER WASHAM KEITH W. NICHOLLS ANDREAS MÜNCHOW LAURIE PADMAN Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
Increasing ocean and air temperatures have contributed to the removal of floating ice shelves from several Greenland outlet glaciers; however, the specific contribution of these external forcings remains poorly understood. Here we use atmospheric, oceanographic and glaciological time series data from the ice shelf of Petermann Gletscher, NW Greenland to quantify the forcing of the ocean and atmosphere on the ice shelf at a site ~16 km from the grounding line within a large sub-ice-shelf channel. Basal melt rates here indicate a strong seasonality, rising from a winter mean of 2 m a−1 to a maximum of 80 m a−1 during the summer melt season. This increase in basal melt rates confirms the direct link between summer atmospheric warming around Greenland and enhanced ocean-forced melting of its remaining ice shelves. We attribute this enhanced melting to increased discharge of subglacial runoff into the ocean at the grounding line, which strengthens under-ice currents and drives a greater ocean heat flux toward the ice base. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
PETER WASHAM KEITH W. NICHOLLS ANDREAS MÜNCHOW LAURIE PADMAN |
author_facet |
PETER WASHAM KEITH W. NICHOLLS ANDREAS MÜNCHOW LAURIE PADMAN |
author_sort |
PETER WASHAM |
title |
Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt |
title_short |
Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt |
title_full |
Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt |
title_fullStr |
Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt |
title_full_unstemmed |
Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt |
title_sort |
summer surface melt thins petermann gletscher ice shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.43 https://doaj.org/article/70c4297d0ae24291ae753950aeedc07d |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-59.500,-59.500,80.500,80.500) |
geographic |
Greenland Petermann Gletscher |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Petermann Gletscher |
genre |
Greenland Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Petermann gletscher |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Petermann gletscher |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol 65, Pp 662-674 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143019000431/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2019.43 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/70c4297d0ae24291ae753950aeedc07d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.43 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
65 |
container_issue |
252 |
container_start_page |
662 |
op_container_end_page |
674 |
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1766015689765683200 |