Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland
The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream has recently seen significant change to its floating margins and has been identified as vulnerable to future climate warming. Inflow of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water (AIW) from the continental shelf has been observed in the vicinity of the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden...
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Copernicus Publications
2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023 https://doaj.org/article/f4dcc2b991394608beb265d728a98568 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f4dcc2b991394608beb265d728a98568 2023-06-11T04:11:54+02:00 Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland M. J. Bentley J. A. Smith S. S. R. Jamieson M. R. Lindeman B. R. Rea A. Humbert T. P. Lane C. M. Darvill J. M. Lloyd F. Straneo V. Helm D. H. Roberts 2023-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023 https://doaj.org/article/f4dcc2b991394608beb265d728a98568 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/1821/2023/tc-17-1821-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/f4dcc2b991394608beb265d728a98568 The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 1821-1837 (2023) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023 2023-05-07T00:32:33Z The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream has recently seen significant change to its floating margins and has been identified as vulnerable to future climate warming. Inflow of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water (AIW) from the continental shelf has been observed in the vicinity of the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79 ∘ N) Glacier calving front, but AIW penetration deep into the ice shelf cavity has not been observed directly. Here, we report temperature and salinity measurements from profiles in an epishelf lake, which provide the first direct evidence of AIW proximal to the grounding line of 79 ∘ N Glacier, over 50 km from the calving front. We also report evidence for partial un-grounding of the margin of 79 ∘ N Glacier taking place at the western end of the epishelf lake. Comparison of our measurements to those close to the calving front shows that AIW transits the cavity to reach the grounding line within a few months. The observations provide support for modelling studies that infer AIW-driven basal melt proximal to the grounding line and demonstrate that offshore oceanographic changes can be rapidly transmitted throughout the sub-ice-shelf cavity, with implications for near-future stability of the ice stream. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Shelf Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden ENVELOPE(-21.500,-21.500,79.500,79.500) The Cryosphere 17 5 1821 1837 |
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 M. J. Bentley J. A. Smith S. S. R. Jamieson M. R. Lindeman B. R. Rea A. Humbert T. P. Lane C. M. Darvill J. M. Lloyd F. Straneo V. Helm D. H. Roberts Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream has recently seen significant change to its floating margins and has been identified as vulnerable to future climate warming. Inflow of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water (AIW) from the continental shelf has been observed in the vicinity of the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79 ∘ N) Glacier calving front, but AIW penetration deep into the ice shelf cavity has not been observed directly. Here, we report temperature and salinity measurements from profiles in an epishelf lake, which provide the first direct evidence of AIW proximal to the grounding line of 79 ∘ N Glacier, over 50 km from the calving front. We also report evidence for partial un-grounding of the margin of 79 ∘ N Glacier taking place at the western end of the epishelf lake. Comparison of our measurements to those close to the calving front shows that AIW transits the cavity to reach the grounding line within a few months. The observations provide support for modelling studies that infer AIW-driven basal melt proximal to the grounding line and demonstrate that offshore oceanographic changes can be rapidly transmitted throughout the sub-ice-shelf cavity, with implications for near-future stability of the ice stream. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. J. Bentley J. A. Smith S. S. R. Jamieson M. R. Lindeman B. R. Rea A. Humbert T. P. Lane C. M. Darvill J. M. Lloyd F. Straneo V. Helm D. H. Roberts |
author_facet |
M. J. Bentley J. A. Smith S. S. R. Jamieson M. R. Lindeman B. R. Rea A. Humbert T. P. Lane C. M. Darvill J. M. Lloyd F. Straneo V. Helm D. H. Roberts |
author_sort |
M. J. Bentley |
title |
Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland |
title_short |
Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland |
title_full |
Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Direct measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° N) Glacier, northeast Greenland |
title_sort |
direct measurement of warm atlantic intermediate water close to the grounding line of nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79° n) glacier, northeast greenland |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023 https://doaj.org/article/f4dcc2b991394608beb265d728a98568 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-21.500,-21.500,79.500,79.500) |
geographic |
Greenland Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Shelf Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Shelf Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 1821-1837 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/1821/2023/tc-17-1821-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/f4dcc2b991394608beb265d728a98568 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1821-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1821 |
op_container_end_page |
1837 |
_version_ |
1768387330558656512 |