Greenland Subglacial Discharge as a Driver of Hotspots of Increasing Coastal Chlorophyll Since the Early 2000s

Abstract Subglacial discharge emerging from the base of Greenland's marine‐terminating glaciers drives upwelling of nutrient‐rich bottom waters to the euphotic zone, which can fuel nitrate‐limited phytoplankton growth. Here, we use buoyant plume theory to quantify this subglacial discharge‐driv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Hilde Oliver, Donald Slater, Dustin Carroll, Michael Wood, Mathieu Morlighem, Mark J. Hopwood
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023
Subjects:
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC801-809
Disko Bay
Greenland
Jakobshavn
Jakobshavn isbræ
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL102689
https://doaj.org/article/95e89d4122b24a73a89a1618647e98e6
Description
Summary:Abstract Subglacial discharge emerging from the base of Greenland's marine‐terminating glaciers drives upwelling of nutrient‐rich bottom waters to the euphotic zone, which can fuel nitrate‐limited phytoplankton growth. Here, we use buoyant plume theory to quantify this subglacial discharge‐driven nutrient supply on a pan‐Greenland scale. The modeled nitrate fluxes were concentrated in a few critical systems, with half of the total modeled nitrate flux anomaly occurring at just 14% of marine‐terminating glaciers. Increasing subglacial discharge fluxes results in elevated nitrate fluxes, with the largest flux occurring at Jakobshavn Isbræ in Disko Bay, where subglacial discharge is largest. Subglacial discharge and nitrate flux anomaly also account for significant temporal variability in summer satellite chlorophyll a (Chl) within 50 km of Greenland's coast, particularly in some regions in central west and northwest Greenland.

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