Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland
The retreat and acceleration of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland over the past 2 decades have been widely attributed to climate change. Here we present a comprehensive annual record of glacier terminus positions in northwest and central-west Greenland and compare it against local and...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-807-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/807/2022/tc-16-807-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/54d071732500402eaabe0b7cfe4c7ab0 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:54d071732500402eaabe0b7cfe4c7ab0 2023-05-15T16:21:03+02:00 Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland T. E. Black I. Joughin 2022-03-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-807-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/807/2022/tc-16-807-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/54d071732500402eaabe0b7cfe4c7ab0 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-16-807-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/807/2022/tc-16-807-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/54d071732500402eaabe0b7cfe4c7ab0 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 807-824 (2022) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2022 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-807-2022 2023-01-22T19:24:05Z The retreat and acceleration of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland over the past 2 decades have been widely attributed to climate change. Here we present a comprehensive annual record of glacier terminus positions in northwest and central-west Greenland and compare it against local and regional climatology to assess the regional sensitivity of glacier termini to different climatic factors. This record is derived from optical and radar satellite imagery and spans 87 marine-terminating outlet glaciers from 1972 through 2021. We find that in this region, most glaciers have retreated over the observation period and widespread regional retreat accelerated from around 1996. The acceleration of glacier retreat coincides with the timing of sharp shifts in ocean surface temperatures, the duration of the sea-ice season, ice-sheet surface mass balance, and meltwater and runoff production. Regression analysis indicates that terminus retreat is most sensitive to increases in runoff and ocean temperatures, while the effect of offshore sea ice is weak. Because runoff and ocean temperatures can influence terminus positions through several mechanisms, our findings suggest that a variety of processes – such as ocean-interface melting, mélange presence and rigidity, and hydrofracture-induced calving – may contribute to, but do not conclusively dominate, the observed regional retreat. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice The Cryosphere Unknown Greenland The Cryosphere 16 3 807 824 |
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geo envir T. E. Black I. Joughin Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
The retreat and acceleration of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland over the past 2 decades have been widely attributed to climate change. Here we present a comprehensive annual record of glacier terminus positions in northwest and central-west Greenland and compare it against local and regional climatology to assess the regional sensitivity of glacier termini to different climatic factors. This record is derived from optical and radar satellite imagery and spans 87 marine-terminating outlet glaciers from 1972 through 2021. We find that in this region, most glaciers have retreated over the observation period and widespread regional retreat accelerated from around 1996. The acceleration of glacier retreat coincides with the timing of sharp shifts in ocean surface temperatures, the duration of the sea-ice season, ice-sheet surface mass balance, and meltwater and runoff production. Regression analysis indicates that terminus retreat is most sensitive to increases in runoff and ocean temperatures, while the effect of offshore sea ice is weak. Because runoff and ocean temperatures can influence terminus positions through several mechanisms, our findings suggest that a variety of processes – such as ocean-interface melting, mélange presence and rigidity, and hydrofracture-induced calving – may contribute to, but do not conclusively dominate, the observed regional retreat. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
T. E. Black I. Joughin |
author_facet |
T. E. Black I. Joughin |
author_sort |
T. E. Black |
title |
Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland |
title_short |
Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland |
title_full |
Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west Greenland |
title_sort |
multi-decadal retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers in northwest and central-west greenland |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-807-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/807/2022/tc-16-807-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/54d071732500402eaabe0b7cfe4c7ab0 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 807-824 (2022) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-16-807-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/807/2022/tc-16-807-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/54d071732500402eaabe0b7cfe4c7ab0 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-807-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
807 |
op_container_end_page |
824 |
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1766009063833862144 |