Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data
Marine-terminating glaciers dominate the evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to sea-level rise. Widespread glacier acceleration has been linked to the warming of ocean waters around the periphery of Greenland but a lack of information on the bathymetry of the continental...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/11/2/131/ 2023-08-20T04:06:41+02:00 Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data Lu An Eric Rignot Romain Millan Kirsty Tinto Josh Willis agris 2019-01-11 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020131 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs11020131 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 11; Issue 2; Pages: 131 remote sensing gravity bathymetry Greenland glaciology ice-ocean interaction climate change Text 2019 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020131 2023-07-31T21:57:52Z Marine-terminating glaciers dominate the evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to sea-level rise. Widespread glacier acceleration has been linked to the warming of ocean waters around the periphery of Greenland but a lack of information on the bathymetry of the continental shelf and glacial fjords has limited our ability to understand how subsurface, warm, salty ocean waters of Atlantic origin (AW) reach the glaciers and melt them from below. Here, we employ high-resolution, airborne gravity data (AIRGrav) in combination with multibeam echo sounding (MBES) data, to infer the bathymetry of the coastal areas of Northwest Greenland for NASA’s Ocean Melting Greenland (OMG) mission. High-resolution, AIRGrav data acquired on a 2 km spacing, 150 m ground clearance, with 1.5 mGal crossover error, is inverted in three dimensions to map the bathymetry. To constrain the inversion away from MBES data, we compare two methods: one based on the Direct Current (DC) shift of the gravity field (absolute minus observed gravity) and another based on the density of the bedrock. We evaluate and compare the two methods in areas with complete MBES coverage. We find the lowest standard error in bed elevation (±60 m) using the DC shift method. When applied to the entire coast of Northwest Greenland, the three-dimensional inversion reveals a complex network of connected sea bed channels, not known previously, that provide natural and varied pathways for AW to reach the glaciers across the continental shelf. The study demonstrates that the gravity approach offers an efficient and practical alternative to extensive ship mapping in ice-filled waters to obtain information critical to understanding and modeling ice-ocean interaction along ice sheet margins. Text glacier Greenland Ice Sheet MDPI Open Access Publishing Greenland Remote Sensing 11 2 131 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
remote sensing gravity bathymetry Greenland glaciology ice-ocean interaction climate change |
spellingShingle |
remote sensing gravity bathymetry Greenland glaciology ice-ocean interaction climate change Lu An Eric Rignot Romain Millan Kirsty Tinto Josh Willis Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data |
topic_facet |
remote sensing gravity bathymetry Greenland glaciology ice-ocean interaction climate change |
description |
Marine-terminating glaciers dominate the evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to sea-level rise. Widespread glacier acceleration has been linked to the warming of ocean waters around the periphery of Greenland but a lack of information on the bathymetry of the continental shelf and glacial fjords has limited our ability to understand how subsurface, warm, salty ocean waters of Atlantic origin (AW) reach the glaciers and melt them from below. Here, we employ high-resolution, airborne gravity data (AIRGrav) in combination with multibeam echo sounding (MBES) data, to infer the bathymetry of the coastal areas of Northwest Greenland for NASA’s Ocean Melting Greenland (OMG) mission. High-resolution, AIRGrav data acquired on a 2 km spacing, 150 m ground clearance, with 1.5 mGal crossover error, is inverted in three dimensions to map the bathymetry. To constrain the inversion away from MBES data, we compare two methods: one based on the Direct Current (DC) shift of the gravity field (absolute minus observed gravity) and another based on the density of the bedrock. We evaluate and compare the two methods in areas with complete MBES coverage. We find the lowest standard error in bed elevation (±60 m) using the DC shift method. When applied to the entire coast of Northwest Greenland, the three-dimensional inversion reveals a complex network of connected sea bed channels, not known previously, that provide natural and varied pathways for AW to reach the glaciers across the continental shelf. The study demonstrates that the gravity approach offers an efficient and practical alternative to extensive ship mapping in ice-filled waters to obtain information critical to understanding and modeling ice-ocean interaction along ice sheet margins. |
format |
Text |
author |
Lu An Eric Rignot Romain Millan Kirsty Tinto Josh Willis |
author_facet |
Lu An Eric Rignot Romain Millan Kirsty Tinto Josh Willis |
author_sort |
Lu An |
title |
Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data |
title_short |
Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data |
title_full |
Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data |
title_fullStr |
Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data |
title_sort |
bathymetry of northwest greenland using “ocean melting greenland” (omg) high-resolution airborne gravity and other data |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020131 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 11; Issue 2; Pages: 131 |
op_relation |
Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs11020131 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020131 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
131 |
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1774717969611358208 |