Journey of an Arctic ice island
In August 2010, a 253 km2 ice island calved from the floating glacial tongue of Petermann Glacier in Northwest Greenland. Petermann Ice Island (PII)-B, a large fragment of this original ice island, is the most intensively observed ice island in recent decades. We chronicle PII-B’s deterioration over...
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2016
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:513308 2023-05-15T14:26:44+02:00 Journey of an Arctic ice island Crawford, Anna J. Wadhams, Peter Wagner, Till J.W. Stern, Alon Abrahamsen, E. Povl Church, Ian Bates, Richard Nicholls, Keith W. 2016-06 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513308/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513308/1/29-2_crawford.pdf http://tos.org/oceanography/article/journey-of-an-arctic-ice-island en eng Oceanography Society https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513308/1/29-2_crawford.pdf Crawford, Anna J.; Wadhams, Peter; Wagner, Till J.W.; Stern, Alon; Abrahamsen, E. Povl orcid:0000-0001-5924-5350 Church, Ian; Bates, Richard; Nicholls, Keith W. orcid:0000-0002-2188-4509 . 2016 Journey of an Arctic ice island. Oceanography, 29 (2). 254-263. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.30 <https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.30> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.30 2023-02-04T19:42:55Z In August 2010, a 253 km2 ice island calved from the floating glacial tongue of Petermann Glacier in Northwest Greenland. Petermann Ice Island (PII)-B, a large fragment of this original ice island, is the most intensively observed ice island in recent decades. We chronicle PII-B’s deterioration over four years while it drifted more than 2,400 km south along Canada’s eastern Arctic coast, investigate the ice island’s interactions with surrounding ocean waters, and report on its substantial seafloor scour. Three-dimensional sidewall scans of PII-B taken while it was grounded 130 km southeast of Clyde River, Nunavut, show that prolonged wave erosion at the waterline during sea ice-free conditions created a large underwater protrusion. The resulting buoyancy forces caused a 100 m × 1 km calving event, which was recorded by two GPS units. A field team observed surface waters to be warmer and fresher on the side of PII-B where the calving occurred, which perhaps led to the accelerated growth of the protrusion. PII-B produced up to 3.8 gigatonnes (3.8 × 1012 kg) of ice fragments, known hazards to the shipping and resource extraction industries, monitored over 22 months. Ice island seafloor scour, such as a 850 m long, 3 m deep trench at PII-B’s grounding location, also puts subseafloor installations (e.g., pipelines) at risk. This long-term and interdisciplinary assessment of PII-B is the first such study in the eastern Canadian Arctic and captures the multiple implications and risks that ice islands impose on the natural environment and offshore industries. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Clyde River glacier Greenland Nunavut Petermann glacier Sea ice Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Arctic Nunavut Greenland Clyde River ENVELOPE(-70.451,-70.451,69.854,69.854) Oceanography 29 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
In August 2010, a 253 km2 ice island calved from the floating glacial tongue of Petermann Glacier in Northwest Greenland. Petermann Ice Island (PII)-B, a large fragment of this original ice island, is the most intensively observed ice island in recent decades. We chronicle PII-B’s deterioration over four years while it drifted more than 2,400 km south along Canada’s eastern Arctic coast, investigate the ice island’s interactions with surrounding ocean waters, and report on its substantial seafloor scour. Three-dimensional sidewall scans of PII-B taken while it was grounded 130 km southeast of Clyde River, Nunavut, show that prolonged wave erosion at the waterline during sea ice-free conditions created a large underwater protrusion. The resulting buoyancy forces caused a 100 m × 1 km calving event, which was recorded by two GPS units. A field team observed surface waters to be warmer and fresher on the side of PII-B where the calving occurred, which perhaps led to the accelerated growth of the protrusion. PII-B produced up to 3.8 gigatonnes (3.8 × 1012 kg) of ice fragments, known hazards to the shipping and resource extraction industries, monitored over 22 months. Ice island seafloor scour, such as a 850 m long, 3 m deep trench at PII-B’s grounding location, also puts subseafloor installations (e.g., pipelines) at risk. This long-term and interdisciplinary assessment of PII-B is the first such study in the eastern Canadian Arctic and captures the multiple implications and risks that ice islands impose on the natural environment and offshore industries. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Crawford, Anna J. Wadhams, Peter Wagner, Till J.W. Stern, Alon Abrahamsen, E. Povl Church, Ian Bates, Richard Nicholls, Keith W. |
spellingShingle |
Crawford, Anna J. Wadhams, Peter Wagner, Till J.W. Stern, Alon Abrahamsen, E. Povl Church, Ian Bates, Richard Nicholls, Keith W. Journey of an Arctic ice island |
author_facet |
Crawford, Anna J. Wadhams, Peter Wagner, Till J.W. Stern, Alon Abrahamsen, E. Povl Church, Ian Bates, Richard Nicholls, Keith W. |
author_sort |
Crawford, Anna J. |
title |
Journey of an Arctic ice island |
title_short |
Journey of an Arctic ice island |
title_full |
Journey of an Arctic ice island |
title_fullStr |
Journey of an Arctic ice island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Journey of an Arctic ice island |
title_sort |
journey of an arctic ice island |
publisher |
Oceanography Society |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513308/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513308/1/29-2_crawford.pdf http://tos.org/oceanography/article/journey-of-an-arctic-ice-island |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-70.451,-70.451,69.854,69.854) |
geographic |
Arctic Nunavut Greenland Clyde River |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Nunavut Greenland Clyde River |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Clyde River glacier Greenland Nunavut Petermann glacier Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Clyde River glacier Greenland Nunavut Petermann glacier Sea ice |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513308/1/29-2_crawford.pdf Crawford, Anna J.; Wadhams, Peter; Wagner, Till J.W.; Stern, Alon; Abrahamsen, E. Povl orcid:0000-0001-5924-5350 Church, Ian; Bates, Richard; Nicholls, Keith W. orcid:0000-0002-2188-4509 . 2016 Journey of an Arctic ice island. Oceanography, 29 (2). 254-263. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.30 <https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.30> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.30 |
container_title |
Oceanography |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
2 |
_version_ |
1766300152657608704 |