Hydraulic suppression of basal glacier melt in sill fjords

• Main Authors: Nilsson, Johan, van Dongen, Eef, Jakobsson, Martin, O'Regan, Matt, Stranne, Christian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
• Subjects: article; Verlagsveröffentlichung; Greenland; Ryder; glacier; North Greenland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1218; https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00063821; https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/egusphere-2022-1218/egusphere-2022-1218.pdf

Using a conceptual model, we examine how hydraulically-controlled exchange flows in silled fjords affect the relationship between the basal glacier melt and the features of warm intermediate Atlantic Water (AW) outside the fjords. We show that an exchange flow can be forced to transit into the hydraulic regime if the AW interface height decreases, the AW temperature increases, or the production of glacially modified water is boosted by subglacial discharge. In the hydraulic regime, the heat transport across the sill becomes a rate limiting factor for the basal melt, which is suppressed. An interplay between processes near the ice–ocean boundary and the hydraulically-controlled exchange flow determines the melt dynamics, and the sensitivity of the basal melt to changes of the AW temperature is reduced. The model results are discussed in relation to observations from Petermann, Ryder, and 79° N glaciers in North Greenland.