Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data
Both a decrease of sea ice and an increase of surface meltwater, which may induce ice-flow speedup and frontal collapse, have a significant impact on the stability of the floating ice shelf in Greenland. However, detailed dynamic precursors and drivers prior to a fast-calving process remain unclear...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/13/4/591/ 2023-08-20T04:06:41+02:00 Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data Daan Li Liming Jiang Ronggang Huang 2021-02-07 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13040591 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13040591 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 13; Issue 4; Pages: 591 frontal collapse precursors high-resolution remote sensing ice sheet system model Petermann Glacier Text 2021 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13040591 2023-08-01T01:01:48Z Both a decrease of sea ice and an increase of surface meltwater, which may induce ice-flow speedup and frontal collapse, have a significant impact on the stability of the floating ice shelf in Greenland. However, detailed dynamic precursors and drivers prior to a fast-calving process remain unclear due to sparse remote sensing observations. Here, we present a comprehensive investigation on hydrological and kinematic precursors before the calving event on 26 July 2017 of Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland, by jointly using remote sensing observations at high-temporal resolution and an ice-flow model. Time series of ice-flow velocity fields during July 2017 were retrieved with Sentinel-2 observations with a sub-weekly sampling interval. The ice-flow speed quickly reached 30 m/d on 26 July (the day before the calving), which is roughly 10 times quicker than the mean glacier velocity. Additionally, a significant decrease in the radar backscatter coefficient of Sentinel-1 images suggests a rapid transformation from landfast sea ice into open water, associated with a decrease in sea ice extent. Additionally, the area of melt ponds on the floating ice tongue began to increase in mid-May, quickly reached a peak at the end of June and lasted for nearly one month until the calving occurred. We used the ice sheet system model to model the spatial-temporal damage and stress on the floating ice, thereby finding an abnormal stress distribution in a cracked region. It is inferred that this calving event may relate to a weakening of the sea ice, shearing of the tributary glacier, and meltwater infiltrating crevasses. Text glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Petermann glacier Sea ice MDPI Open Access Publishing Greenland Remote Sensing 13 4 591 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
frontal collapse precursors high-resolution remote sensing ice sheet system model Petermann Glacier |
spellingShingle |
frontal collapse precursors high-resolution remote sensing ice sheet system model Petermann Glacier Daan Li Liming Jiang Ronggang Huang Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data |
topic_facet |
frontal collapse precursors high-resolution remote sensing ice sheet system model Petermann Glacier |
description |
Both a decrease of sea ice and an increase of surface meltwater, which may induce ice-flow speedup and frontal collapse, have a significant impact on the stability of the floating ice shelf in Greenland. However, detailed dynamic precursors and drivers prior to a fast-calving process remain unclear due to sparse remote sensing observations. Here, we present a comprehensive investigation on hydrological and kinematic precursors before the calving event on 26 July 2017 of Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland, by jointly using remote sensing observations at high-temporal resolution and an ice-flow model. Time series of ice-flow velocity fields during July 2017 were retrieved with Sentinel-2 observations with a sub-weekly sampling interval. The ice-flow speed quickly reached 30 m/d on 26 July (the day before the calving), which is roughly 10 times quicker than the mean glacier velocity. Additionally, a significant decrease in the radar backscatter coefficient of Sentinel-1 images suggests a rapid transformation from landfast sea ice into open water, associated with a decrease in sea ice extent. Additionally, the area of melt ponds on the floating ice tongue began to increase in mid-May, quickly reached a peak at the end of June and lasted for nearly one month until the calving occurred. We used the ice sheet system model to model the spatial-temporal damage and stress on the floating ice, thereby finding an abnormal stress distribution in a cracked region. It is inferred that this calving event may relate to a weakening of the sea ice, shearing of the tributary glacier, and meltwater infiltrating crevasses. |
format |
Text |
author |
Daan Li Liming Jiang Ronggang Huang |
author_facet |
Daan Li Liming Jiang Ronggang Huang |
author_sort |
Daan Li |
title |
Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data |
title_short |
Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data |
title_full |
Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data |
title_fullStr |
Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hydrological and Kinematic Precursors of the 2017 Calving Event at the Petermann Glacier in Greenland Observed from Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data |
title_sort |
hydrological and kinematic precursors of the 2017 calving event at the petermann glacier in greenland observed from multi-source remote sensing data |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13040591 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Petermann glacier Sea ice |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Petermann glacier Sea ice |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 13; Issue 4; Pages: 591 |
op_relation |
Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13040591 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13040591 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
591 |
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1774717963558977536 |