Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier
Dynamics of marine-terminating major outlet glaciers are of high interest because of their potential for drawing down large areas of the Greenland ice sheet. We quantify short-term changes in ice flow speed and calving at a major West Greenland glacier and examine their relationship to the presence...
Published in: | Annals of Glaciology |
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Online Access: | https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14067 https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A083 |
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ftmichigantuniv:oai:digitalcommons.mtu.edu:michigantech-p-33370 2023-05-15T16:21:11+02:00 Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier Walter, Jacob I. Box, Jason E. Tulaczyk, Slawek Brodsky, Emily E. Howat, Ian M. Ahn, Yushin Brown, Abel 2012-11-01T07:00:00Z https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14067 https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A083 unknown Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14067 https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A083 Michigan Tech Publications text 2012 ftmichigantuniv https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A083 2022-01-23T10:49:01Z Dynamics of marine-terminating major outlet glaciers are of high interest because of their potential for drawing down large areas of the Greenland ice sheet. We quantify short-term changes in ice flow speed and calving at a major West Greenland glacier and examine their relationship to the presence of the sea-ice melange and tidal stage. A field campaign at the terminus of Store Gletscher (70.408 N, 50.558 W) spanning the spring and summer of 2008 included four broadband seismometers, three time-lapse cameras, a tide gauge, an automatic weather station and an on-ice continuous GPS station. Sub-daily fluctuations in speed coincide with two modes of oceanic forcing: (1) the removal of the ice melange from the terminus front and (2) tidal fluctuations contributing to speed increases following ice melange removal. Tidal fluctuations in ice flow speed were observed 16km from the terminus and possibly extend further. Seismic records suggest that periods of intensive calving activity coincide with ice-flow acceleration following breakup of the melange in spring. A synchronous increase in speed at the front and clearing of the melange suggests that the melange directly resists ice flow. We estimate a buttressing stress (-30-60 kPa) due to the presence of the ice melange that is greater than expected from the range of observed tides, though an order of magnitude less than the driving stress. © 2012 Publishing Technology. Text glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice Michigan Technological University: Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech Greenland Annals of Glaciology 53 60 181 192 |
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Michigan Technological University: Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech |
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ftmichigantuniv |
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description |
Dynamics of marine-terminating major outlet glaciers are of high interest because of their potential for drawing down large areas of the Greenland ice sheet. We quantify short-term changes in ice flow speed and calving at a major West Greenland glacier and examine their relationship to the presence of the sea-ice melange and tidal stage. A field campaign at the terminus of Store Gletscher (70.408 N, 50.558 W) spanning the spring and summer of 2008 included four broadband seismometers, three time-lapse cameras, a tide gauge, an automatic weather station and an on-ice continuous GPS station. Sub-daily fluctuations in speed coincide with two modes of oceanic forcing: (1) the removal of the ice melange from the terminus front and (2) tidal fluctuations contributing to speed increases following ice melange removal. Tidal fluctuations in ice flow speed were observed 16km from the terminus and possibly extend further. Seismic records suggest that periods of intensive calving activity coincide with ice-flow acceleration following breakup of the melange in spring. A synchronous increase in speed at the front and clearing of the melange suggests that the melange directly resists ice flow. We estimate a buttressing stress (-30-60 kPa) due to the presence of the ice melange that is greater than expected from the range of observed tides, though an order of magnitude less than the driving stress. © 2012 Publishing Technology. |
format |
Text |
author |
Walter, Jacob I. Box, Jason E. Tulaczyk, Slawek Brodsky, Emily E. Howat, Ian M. Ahn, Yushin Brown, Abel |
spellingShingle |
Walter, Jacob I. Box, Jason E. Tulaczyk, Slawek Brodsky, Emily E. Howat, Ian M. Ahn, Yushin Brown, Abel Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier |
author_facet |
Walter, Jacob I. Box, Jason E. Tulaczyk, Slawek Brodsky, Emily E. Howat, Ian M. Ahn, Yushin Brown, Abel |
author_sort |
Walter, Jacob I. |
title |
Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier |
title_short |
Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier |
title_full |
Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier |
title_fullStr |
Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier |
title_full_unstemmed |
Oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier |
title_sort |
oceanic mechanical forcing of a marine-terminating greenland glacier |
publisher |
Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14067 https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A083 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice |
op_source |
Michigan Tech Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14067 https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A083 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A083 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
60 |
container_start_page |
181 |
op_container_end_page |
192 |
_version_ |
1766009197681442816 |