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

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Andresen, Camilla, Karlsson, Nanna, Straneo, Fiammetta, Schmidt, Sabine, Andersen, Thorbjørn, Eidam, Emily, Bjørk, Anders, Dartiguemalle, Nicolas, Dyke, Laurence, Vermassen, Flor, Gundel, Ida
• Other Authors: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Department of Chemistry Scripps Research Institute, The Scripps Research Institute La Jolla, San Diego, Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management Copenhagen (IGN), Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), Oregon State University (OSU), Department of Geological Sciences Stockholm, Stockholm University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: Greenland ice sheet; surface melt; sediment; Discharge; 210Pb; Mass accumulation rate; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; glacier; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04457917; https://hal.science/hal-04457917/document; https://hal.science/hal-04457917/file/NatureCom-Camilla-Snowmann-2024.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45694-1

International audience 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.