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...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
AGU (American Geophysical Union)
2016
|
Subjects: | |
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 |
id |
ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:32989 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:32989 2023-05-15T16:21:03+02:00 Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland Rignot, E. Fenty, I. Xu, Y. Cai, C. Velicogna, I. Cofaigh, C. Ó Dowdeswell, J. A. Weinrebe, Wilhelm Catania, G. Duncan, D. 2016 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/1/grl54171.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067832 en eng AGU (American Geophysical Union) Wiley https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/1/grl54171.pdf Rignot, E., Fenty, I., Xu, Y., Cai, C., Velicogna, I., Cofaigh, C. Ó., Dowdeswell, J. A., Weinrebe, W., Catania, G. and Duncan, D. (2016) Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland. Open Access Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (6). pp. 2667-2674. DOI 10.1002/2016GL067832 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067832>. doi:10.1002/2016GL067832 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067832 2023-04-07T15:25:51Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Uummannaq OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Greenland Vaigat ENVELOPE(-52.947,-52.947,70.200,70.200) Geophysical Research Letters 43 6 2667 2674 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
op_collection_id |
ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rignot, E. Fenty, I. Xu, Y. Cai, C. Velicogna, I. Cofaigh, C. Ó Dowdeswell, J. A. Weinrebe, Wilhelm Catania, G. Duncan, D. |
spellingShingle |
Rignot, E. Fenty, I. Xu, Y. Cai, C. Velicogna, I. Cofaigh, C. Ó Dowdeswell, J. A. Weinrebe, Wilhelm Catania, G. Duncan, D. Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
author_facet |
Rignot, E. Fenty, I. Xu, Y. Cai, C. Velicogna, I. Cofaigh, C. Ó Dowdeswell, J. A. Weinrebe, Wilhelm Catania, G. Duncan, D. |
author_sort |
Rignot, E. |
title |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_short |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_full |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland |
title_sort |
bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in uummannaq and vaigat glacial fjords, west greenland |
publisher |
AGU (American Geophysical Union) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/1/grl54171.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067832 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-52.947,-52.947,70.200,70.200) |
geographic |
Greenland Vaigat |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Vaigat |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Uummannaq |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Uummannaq |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32989/1/grl54171.pdf Rignot, E., Fenty, I., Xu, Y., Cai, C., Velicogna, I., Cofaigh, C. Ó., Dowdeswell, J. A., Weinrebe, W., Catania, G. and Duncan, D. (2016) Bathymetry data reveal glaciers vulnerable to ice-ocean interaction in Uummannaq and Vaigat glacial fjords, west Greenland. Open Access Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (6). pp. 2667-2674. DOI 10.1002/2016GL067832 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067832>. doi:10.1002/2016GL067832 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067832 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2667 |
op_container_end_page |
2674 |
_version_ |
1766009059699326976 |