Sediment discharge from Greenland’s marine-terminating glaciers is linked with surface melt

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Camilla S. Andresen, Nanna B. Karlsson, Fiammetta Straneo, Sabine Schmidt, Thorbjørn J. Andersen, Emily F. Eidam, Anders A. Bjørk, Nicolas Dartiguemalle, Laurence M. Dyke, Flor Vermassen, Ida E. Gundel
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Portfolio 2024
• Subjects: Science; Q; glacier; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45694-1; https://doaj.org/article/e80707ec662d469fbd3c01b8ab00a39f

Abstract Sediment discharged from the Greenland Ice Sheet delivers nutrients to marine ecosystems around Greenland and shapes seafloor habitats. Current estimates of the total sediment flux are constrained by observations from land-terminating glaciers only. Addressing this gap, our study presents a budget derived from observations at 30 marine-margin locations. Analyzing sediment cores from nine glaciated fjords, we assess spatial deposition since 1950. A significant correlation is established between mass accumulation rates, normalized by surface runoff, and distance down-fjord. This enables calculating annual sediment flux at any fjord point based on nearby marine-terminating outlet glacier melt data. Findings reveal a total annual sediment flux of 1.324 + /− 0.79 Gt yr-1 over the period 2010-2020 from all marine-terminating glaciers to the fjords. These estimates are valuable for studies aiming to understand the basal ice sheet conditions and for studies predicting ecosystem changes in Greenland’s fjords and offshore areas as the ice sheet melts and sediment discharge increase.