Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland
Ice mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet is the largest single contributor to sea level rise in the 21st century. The mass loss rate has accelerated in recent decades mainly due to thinning and retreat of its outlet glaciers. The diverse calving mechanisms responsible for tidewater glacier retreat...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/470651 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000470651 |
id |
ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/470651 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/470651 2023-08-20T04:06:41+02:00 Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland van Dongen, Eef id_orcid:0 000-0002-4290-3887 Jouvet, Guillaume Sugiyama, Shin Podolskiy, Evgeny A. Funk, Martin Benn, Douglas I. Lindner, Fabian Bauder, Andreas Seguinot, Julien id_orcid:0 000-0002-5315-0761 Leinss, Silvan id_orcid:0 000-0002-4467-5793 Walter, Fabian Thomas id_orcid:0 000-0001-6952-2761 2021 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/470651 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000470651 en eng Copernicus info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-15-485-2021 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000618062200001 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/Projektförderung in Mathematik, Natur- und Ingenieurwissenschaften (Abteilung II)/153179 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/SNF-Förderungsprofessuren: Fortsetzungsgesuche/183719 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/470651 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000470651 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International The Cryosphere, 15 (2) info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2021 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/47065110.3929/ethz-b-00047065110.5194/tc-15-485-2021 2023-07-30T23:53:14Z Ice mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet is the largest single contributor to sea level rise in the 21st century. The mass loss rate has accelerated in recent decades mainly due to thinning and retreat of its outlet glaciers. The diverse calving mechanisms responsible for tidewater glacier retreat are not fully understood yet. Since a tidewater glacier’s sensitivity to external forcings depends on its calving style, detailed insight into calving processes is necessary to improve projections of ice sheet mass loss by calving. As tidewater glaciers are mostly thinning, their calving styles are expected to change. Here, we study calving behaviour changes under a thinning regime at Bowdoin Glacier, north-western Greenland, by combining field and remote-sensing data from 2015 to 2019. Previous studies showed that major calving events in 2015 and 2017 were driven by hydro-fracturing and melt-undercutting. New observations from uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and a GPS network installed at the calving front in 2019 suggest ungrounding and buoyant calving have recently occurred as they show (1) increasing tidal modulation of vertical motion compared to previous years, (2) absence of a surface crevasse prior to calving, and (3) uplift and horizontal surface compression prior to calving. Furthermore, an inventory of calving events from 2015 to 2019 based on satellite imagery provides additional support for a change towards buoyant calving since it shows an increasing occurrence of calving events outside of the melt season. The observed change in calving style could lead to a possible retreat of the terminus, which has been stable since 2013. We therefore highlight the need for high-resolution monitoring to detect changing calving styles and numerical models that cover the full spectrum of calving mechanisms to improve projections of ice sheet mass loss by calving. ISSN:1994-0416 ISSN:1994-0424 Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Tidewater ETH Zürich Research Collection Bowdoin ENVELOPE(-69.317,-69.317,77.683,77.683) Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
description |
Ice mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet is the largest single contributor to sea level rise in the 21st century. The mass loss rate has accelerated in recent decades mainly due to thinning and retreat of its outlet glaciers. The diverse calving mechanisms responsible for tidewater glacier retreat are not fully understood yet. Since a tidewater glacier’s sensitivity to external forcings depends on its calving style, detailed insight into calving processes is necessary to improve projections of ice sheet mass loss by calving. As tidewater glaciers are mostly thinning, their calving styles are expected to change. Here, we study calving behaviour changes under a thinning regime at Bowdoin Glacier, north-western Greenland, by combining field and remote-sensing data from 2015 to 2019. Previous studies showed that major calving events in 2015 and 2017 were driven by hydro-fracturing and melt-undercutting. New observations from uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and a GPS network installed at the calving front in 2019 suggest ungrounding and buoyant calving have recently occurred as they show (1) increasing tidal modulation of vertical motion compared to previous years, (2) absence of a surface crevasse prior to calving, and (3) uplift and horizontal surface compression prior to calving. Furthermore, an inventory of calving events from 2015 to 2019 based on satellite imagery provides additional support for a change towards buoyant calving since it shows an increasing occurrence of calving events outside of the melt season. The observed change in calving style could lead to a possible retreat of the terminus, which has been stable since 2013. We therefore highlight the need for high-resolution monitoring to detect changing calving styles and numerical models that cover the full spectrum of calving mechanisms to improve projections of ice sheet mass loss by calving. ISSN:1994-0416 ISSN:1994-0424 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van Dongen, Eef id_orcid:0 000-0002-4290-3887 Jouvet, Guillaume Sugiyama, Shin Podolskiy, Evgeny A. Funk, Martin Benn, Douglas I. Lindner, Fabian Bauder, Andreas Seguinot, Julien id_orcid:0 000-0002-5315-0761 Leinss, Silvan id_orcid:0 000-0002-4467-5793 Walter, Fabian Thomas id_orcid:0 000-0001-6952-2761 |
spellingShingle |
van Dongen, Eef id_orcid:0 000-0002-4290-3887 Jouvet, Guillaume Sugiyama, Shin Podolskiy, Evgeny A. Funk, Martin Benn, Douglas I. Lindner, Fabian Bauder, Andreas Seguinot, Julien id_orcid:0 000-0002-5315-0761 Leinss, Silvan id_orcid:0 000-0002-4467-5793 Walter, Fabian Thomas id_orcid:0 000-0001-6952-2761 Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland |
author_facet |
van Dongen, Eef id_orcid:0 000-0002-4290-3887 Jouvet, Guillaume Sugiyama, Shin Podolskiy, Evgeny A. Funk, Martin Benn, Douglas I. Lindner, Fabian Bauder, Andreas Seguinot, Julien id_orcid:0 000-0002-5315-0761 Leinss, Silvan id_orcid:0 000-0002-4467-5793 Walter, Fabian Thomas id_orcid:0 000-0001-6952-2761 |
author_sort |
van Dongen, Eef |
title |
Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland |
title_short |
Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland |
title_full |
Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thinning leads to calving-style changes at Bowdoin Glacier, Greenland |
title_sort |
thinning leads to calving-style changes at bowdoin glacier, greenland |
publisher |
Copernicus |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/470651 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000470651 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-69.317,-69.317,77.683,77.683) |
geographic |
Bowdoin Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Bowdoin Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Tidewater |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Tidewater |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, 15 (2) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-15-485-2021 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000618062200001 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/Projektförderung in Mathematik, Natur- und Ingenieurwissenschaften (Abteilung II)/153179 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/SNF-Förderungsprofessuren: Fortsetzungsgesuche/183719 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/470651 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000470651 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/47065110.3929/ethz-b-00047065110.5194/tc-15-485-2021 |
_version_ |
1774717971629867008 |