Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing
The recent retreat and speedup of outlet glaciers, as well as enhanced surface melting around the ice sheet margin, have increased Greenland's contribution to sea level rise to 0.6±0.1 mm/yr and its discharge of freshwater into the North Atlantic. The widespread, near-synchronous glacier retrea...
Published in: | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/1/bams-d-12-00100%252E1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1 |
id |
ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:502897 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:502897 2023-05-15T16:21:24+02:00 Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing Straneo, Fiammetta Heimbach, Patrick Sergienko, Olga Hamilton, Gordon Catania, Ginny Griffies, Stephen Hallberg, Robert Jenkins, Adrian Joughin, Ian Motyka, Roman Pfeffer, W. Tad Price, Stephen F. Rignot, Eric Scambos, Ted Truffer, Martin Vieli, Andreas 2013-08 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/1/bams-d-12-00100%252E1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1 en eng https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/1/bams-d-12-00100%252E1.pdf Straneo, Fiammetta; Heimbach, Patrick; Sergienko, Olga; Hamilton, Gordon; Catania, Ginny; Griffies, Stephen; Hallberg, Robert; Jenkins, Adrian orcid:0000-0002-9117-0616 Joughin, Ian; Motyka, Roman; Pfeffer, W. Tad; Price, Stephen F.; Rignot, Eric; Scambos, Ted; Truffer, Martin; Vieli, Andreas. 2013 Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 94 (8). 1131-1144. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1 2023-02-04T19:37:34Z The recent retreat and speedup of outlet glaciers, as well as enhanced surface melting around the ice sheet margin, have increased Greenland's contribution to sea level rise to 0.6±0.1 mm/yr and its discharge of freshwater into the North Atlantic. The widespread, near-synchronous glacier retreat, and its coincidence with a period of oceanic and atmospheric warming, suggest a common climate driver. Evidence points to the marine margins of these glaciers as the region from which changes propagated inland. Yet the forcings and mechanisms behind these dynamic responses are poorly understood and either missing or crudely parameterized in climate and ice sheet models. Resulting projected sea level rise contributions from Greenland by 2100 remain highly uncertain. This paper summarizes current state of knowledge and highlights key physical aspects of Greenland's coupled ice-sheet/ocean/atmosphere system. Three research thrusts are identified to yield fundamental insights into ice sheet, ocean, sea ice and atmosphere interactions, their role in Earth's climate system, and probable trajectories of future changes: (1) focused process studies addressing critical glacier, ocean, atmosphere and coupled dynamics; (2) sustained observations at key sites; and (3) inclusion of relevant dynamics in Earth System Models. Understanding the dynamic response of Greenland's glaciers to climate forcing constitutes both a scientific and technological frontier given the challenges of obtaining the appropriate measurements from the glaciers' marine termini and the complexity of the dynamics involved, including the coupling of the ocean, atmosphere, glacier and sea ice systems. Interdisciplinary and international cooperation are crucial to making progress on this novel and complex problem. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic Sea ice Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Greenland Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 94 8 1131 1144 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The recent retreat and speedup of outlet glaciers, as well as enhanced surface melting around the ice sheet margin, have increased Greenland's contribution to sea level rise to 0.6±0.1 mm/yr and its discharge of freshwater into the North Atlantic. The widespread, near-synchronous glacier retreat, and its coincidence with a period of oceanic and atmospheric warming, suggest a common climate driver. Evidence points to the marine margins of these glaciers as the region from which changes propagated inland. Yet the forcings and mechanisms behind these dynamic responses are poorly understood and either missing or crudely parameterized in climate and ice sheet models. Resulting projected sea level rise contributions from Greenland by 2100 remain highly uncertain. This paper summarizes current state of knowledge and highlights key physical aspects of Greenland's coupled ice-sheet/ocean/atmosphere system. Three research thrusts are identified to yield fundamental insights into ice sheet, ocean, sea ice and atmosphere interactions, their role in Earth's climate system, and probable trajectories of future changes: (1) focused process studies addressing critical glacier, ocean, atmosphere and coupled dynamics; (2) sustained observations at key sites; and (3) inclusion of relevant dynamics in Earth System Models. Understanding the dynamic response of Greenland's glaciers to climate forcing constitutes both a scientific and technological frontier given the challenges of obtaining the appropriate measurements from the glaciers' marine termini and the complexity of the dynamics involved, including the coupling of the ocean, atmosphere, glacier and sea ice systems. Interdisciplinary and international cooperation are crucial to making progress on this novel and complex problem. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Straneo, Fiammetta Heimbach, Patrick Sergienko, Olga Hamilton, Gordon Catania, Ginny Griffies, Stephen Hallberg, Robert Jenkins, Adrian Joughin, Ian Motyka, Roman Pfeffer, W. Tad Price, Stephen F. Rignot, Eric Scambos, Ted Truffer, Martin Vieli, Andreas |
spellingShingle |
Straneo, Fiammetta Heimbach, Patrick Sergienko, Olga Hamilton, Gordon Catania, Ginny Griffies, Stephen Hallberg, Robert Jenkins, Adrian Joughin, Ian Motyka, Roman Pfeffer, W. Tad Price, Stephen F. Rignot, Eric Scambos, Ted Truffer, Martin Vieli, Andreas Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing |
author_facet |
Straneo, Fiammetta Heimbach, Patrick Sergienko, Olga Hamilton, Gordon Catania, Ginny Griffies, Stephen Hallberg, Robert Jenkins, Adrian Joughin, Ian Motyka, Roman Pfeffer, W. Tad Price, Stephen F. Rignot, Eric Scambos, Ted Truffer, Martin Vieli, Andreas |
author_sort |
Straneo, Fiammetta |
title |
Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing |
title_short |
Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing |
title_full |
Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing |
title_fullStr |
Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing |
title_full_unstemmed |
Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing |
title_sort |
challenges to understand the dynamic response of greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/1/bams-d-12-00100%252E1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet North Atlantic Sea ice |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502897/1/bams-d-12-00100%252E1.pdf Straneo, Fiammetta; Heimbach, Patrick; Sergienko, Olga; Hamilton, Gordon; Catania, Ginny; Griffies, Stephen; Hallberg, Robert; Jenkins, Adrian orcid:0000-0002-9117-0616 Joughin, Ian; Motyka, Roman; Pfeffer, W. Tad; Price, Stephen F.; Rignot, Eric; Scambos, Ted; Truffer, Martin; Vieli, Andreas. 2013 Challenges to understand the dynamic response of Greenland's marine terminating glaciers to oceanic and atmospheric forcing. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 94 (8). 1131-1144. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00100.1 |
container_title |
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society |
container_volume |
94 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1131 |
op_container_end_page |
1144 |
_version_ |
1766009406687805440 |