Accelerating Ice Loss From Peripheral Glaciers in North Greenland

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Khan, Shfaqat A., Colgan, William, Neumann, Thomas A., van den Broeke, Michiel R., Brunt, Kelly M., Noël, Brice, Bamber, Jonathan L., Hassan, Javed, Bjørk, Anders A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: glacier; Greenland; Ice Sheet; North Greenland
• Online Access: https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/60d376a4-7a8e-4ed0-9164-660befc74b7c; https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098915; https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/278579251/Geophysical_Research_Letters_2022_Khan_Accelerating_Ice_Loss_From_Peripheral_Glaciers_in_North_Greenland.pdf

In recent decades, Greenland's peripheral glaciers have experienced large-scale mass loss, resulting in a substantial contribution to sea level rise. While their total area of Greenland ice cover is relatively small (4%), their mass loss is disproportionally large compared to the Greenland ice sheet. Satellite altimetry from Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and ICESat-2 shows that mass loss from Greenland's peripheral glaciers increased from 27.2 ± 6.2 Gt/yr (February 2003–October 2009) to 42.3 ± 6.2 Gt/yr (October 2018–December 2021). These relatively small glaciers now constitute 11 ± 2% of Greenland's ice loss and contribute to global sea level rise. In the period October 2018–December 2021, mass loss increased by a factor of four for peripheral glaciers in North Greenland. While peripheral glacier mass loss is widespread, we also observe a complex regional pattern where increases in precipitation at high altitudes have partially counteracted increases in melt at low altitude.