Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland

Marine-terminating glaciers play a critical role in controlling Greenland's ice sheet mass balance. Their frontal margins interact vigorously with the ocean, but our understanding of this interaction is limited, in part, by a lack of bathymetry data. Here we present a multibeam echo sounding su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Rignot, E., Fenty, I., Xu, Y., Cai, C., Velicogna, I., Cofaigh, C. Ó, Dowdeswell, J. A., Weinrebe, Wilhelm, Catania, G., Duncan, D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: AGU (American Geophysical Union) 2016
Subjects:
Greenland
Vaigat
glacier
Ice Sheet
Uummannaq
Online Access:https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/1/grl54171.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067832
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Summary:Marine-terminating glaciers play a critical role in controlling Greenland's ice sheet mass balance. Their frontal margins interact vigorously with the ocean, but our understanding of this interaction is limited, in part, by a lack of bathymetry data. Here we present a multibeam echo sounding survey of 14 glacial fjords in the Uummannaq and Vaigat fjords, west Greenland, which extends from the continental shelf to the glacier fronts. The data reveal valleys with shallow sills, overdeepenings (> 1300 m) from glacial erosion, and seafloor depths 100-1000 m deeper than in existing charts. Where fjords are deep enough, we detect the pervasive presence of warm, salty Atlantic Water (AW) (> 2.5 degrees C) with high melt potential, but we also find numerous glaciers grounded on shallow (< 200 m) sills, standing in cold (< 1 degrees C) waters in otherwise deep fjords, i.e., with reduced melt potential. Bathymetric observations extending to the glacier fronts are critical to understand the glacier evolution.

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