Using Vertically Integrated Ocean Fields to Characterize Greenland Icebergs' Distribution and Lifetime

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Marson, Juliana M., Myers, Paul G., Hu, Xianmin, Le Sommer, Julien
• Other Authors: Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 )
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: iceberg; modeling; Labrador Sea; NEMO; Grand Banks; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Greenland
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-03706508; https://insu.hal.science/insu-03706508/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-03706508/file/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202018%20-%20Marson%20-%20Using%20Vertically%20Integrated%20Ocean%20Fields%20to%20Characterize%20Greenland%20Icebergs%20.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077676

International audience Icebergs represent approximately half of Greenland's yearly mass loss, having important implications for biological productivity, freshwater fluxes in the ocean, and navigation. This study applies an iceberg model that uses integrated ocean fields (from surface to iceberg keel) to simulate the drift and decay of Greenland icebergs. This version of iceberg model (VERT) is compared with a more widely adopted version (SURF) which only uses surface ocean fields in its equations. We show that icebergs in VERT tend to drift along the shelf break, while in SURF they concentrate along the coastline. Additionally, we show that Greenland's southeast coast is the source of ∼60% of the icebergs that cross the interior of the Labrador Sea—a region that stages buoyancy-driven convection and is, therefore, sensitive to freshwater input.