Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate
peer reviewed Supraglacial lakes (SGLs) form annually on the Greenland ice sheet and, when they drain, their discharge enhances ice-sheet flow by lubricating the base and potentially by warming the ice. Today, SGLs tend to form within the ablation zone, where enhanced lubrication is offset by effici...
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Online Access: | https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/179906 https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2463 |
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ftorbi:oai:orbi.ulg.ac.be:2268/179906 2024-04-21T08:03:21+00:00 Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate Leeson, A. Shepherd, A. Briggs, K. Howat, I. Fettweis, Xavier Morlighem, M. Rignot, E. 2015-01-01 https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/179906 https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2463 en eng Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v5/n1/full/nclimate2463.html urn:issn:1758-678X urn:issn:1758-6798 https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/179906 info:hdl:2268/179906 doi:10.1038/nclimate2463 scopus-id:2-s2.0-84927611548 restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Nature Climate Change, 5, 51–55 (2015-01-01) Physical chemical mathematical & earth Sciences Earth sciences & physical geography Physique chimie mathématiques & sciences de la terre Sciences de la terre & géographie physique journal article http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 info:eu-repo/semantics/article peer reviewed 2015 ftorbi https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2463 2024-03-27T14:56:39Z peer reviewed Supraglacial lakes (SGLs) form annually on the Greenland ice sheet and, when they drain, their discharge enhances ice-sheet flow by lubricating the base and potentially by warming the ice. Today, SGLs tend to form within the ablation zone, where enhanced lubrication is offset by efficient subglacial drainage. However, it is not clear what impact a warming climate will have on this arrangement. Here, we use an SGL initiation and growth model to show that lakes form at higher altitudes as temperatures rise, consistent with satellite observations. Our simulations show that in southwest Greenland, SGLs spread 103 and 110 km further inland by the year 2060 under moderate (RCP 4.5) and extreme (RCP 8.5) climate change scenarios, respectively, leading to an estimated 48–53% increase in the area over which they are distributed across the ice sheet as a whole. Up to half of these new lakes may be large enough to drain, potentially delivering water and heat to the ice-sheet base in regions where subglacial drainage is inefficient. In such places, ice flow responds positively to increases in surface water delivered to the bed through enhanced basal lubrication and warming of the ice, and so the inland advance of SGLs should be considered in projections of ice-sheet change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet University of Liège: ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography) Nature Climate Change 5 1 51 55 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Liège: ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography) |
op_collection_id |
ftorbi |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical chemical mathematical & earth Sciences Earth sciences & physical geography Physique chimie mathématiques & sciences de la terre Sciences de la terre & géographie physique |
spellingShingle |
Physical chemical mathematical & earth Sciences Earth sciences & physical geography Physique chimie mathématiques & sciences de la terre Sciences de la terre & géographie physique Leeson, A. Shepherd, A. Briggs, K. Howat, I. Fettweis, Xavier Morlighem, M. Rignot, E. Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate |
topic_facet |
Physical chemical mathematical & earth Sciences Earth sciences & physical geography Physique chimie mathématiques & sciences de la terre Sciences de la terre & géographie physique |
description |
peer reviewed Supraglacial lakes (SGLs) form annually on the Greenland ice sheet and, when they drain, their discharge enhances ice-sheet flow by lubricating the base and potentially by warming the ice. Today, SGLs tend to form within the ablation zone, where enhanced lubrication is offset by efficient subglacial drainage. However, it is not clear what impact a warming climate will have on this arrangement. Here, we use an SGL initiation and growth model to show that lakes form at higher altitudes as temperatures rise, consistent with satellite observations. Our simulations show that in southwest Greenland, SGLs spread 103 and 110 km further inland by the year 2060 under moderate (RCP 4.5) and extreme (RCP 8.5) climate change scenarios, respectively, leading to an estimated 48–53% increase in the area over which they are distributed across the ice sheet as a whole. Up to half of these new lakes may be large enough to drain, potentially delivering water and heat to the ice-sheet base in regions where subglacial drainage is inefficient. In such places, ice flow responds positively to increases in surface water delivered to the bed through enhanced basal lubrication and warming of the ice, and so the inland advance of SGLs should be considered in projections of ice-sheet change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Leeson, A. Shepherd, A. Briggs, K. Howat, I. Fettweis, Xavier Morlighem, M. Rignot, E. |
author_facet |
Leeson, A. Shepherd, A. Briggs, K. Howat, I. Fettweis, Xavier Morlighem, M. Rignot, E. |
author_sort |
Leeson, A. |
title |
Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate |
title_short |
Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate |
title_full |
Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate |
title_fullStr |
Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate |
title_full_unstemmed |
Supraglacial lakes on the Greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate |
title_sort |
supraglacial lakes on the greenland ice sheet advance inland under warming climate |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/179906 https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2463 |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Nature Climate Change, 5, 51–55 (2015-01-01) |
op_relation |
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v5/n1/full/nclimate2463.html urn:issn:1758-678X urn:issn:1758-6798 https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/179906 info:hdl:2268/179906 doi:10.1038/nclimate2463 scopus-id:2-s2.0-84927611548 |
op_rights |
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2463 |
container_title |
Nature Climate Change |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
51 |
op_container_end_page |
55 |
_version_ |
1796943236101570560 |