High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape
Variability in tidewater outlet glacier behavior under similar external forcing has been attributed to differences in outlet shape (i.e., bed elevation and width), but this dependence has not been investigated in detail. Here we use a numerical ice flow model to show that the dynamics of tidewater o...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2013
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:d0a65ffb724b48bf856bb35b9dc46bf2 2023-05-15T18:32:22+02:00 High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape E. M. Enderlin I. M. Howat A. Vieli 2013-06-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1007-2013 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1007/2013/tc-7-1007-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d0a65ffb724b48bf856bb35b9dc46bf2 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-7-1007-2013 1994-0416 1994-0424 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1007/2013/tc-7-1007-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d0a65ffb724b48bf856bb35b9dc46bf2 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 3, Pp 1007-1015 (2013) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2013 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1007-2013 2023-01-22T17:32:58Z Variability in tidewater outlet glacier behavior under similar external forcing has been attributed to differences in outlet shape (i.e., bed elevation and width), but this dependence has not been investigated in detail. Here we use a numerical ice flow model to show that the dynamics of tidewater outlet glaciers under external forcing are highly sensitive to width and bed topography. Our sensitivity tests indicate that for glaciers with similar discharge, the trunks of wider glaciers and those grounded over deeper basal depressions tend to be closer to flotation, so that less dynamically induced thinning results in rapid, unstable retreat following a perturbation. The lag time between the onset of the perturbation and unstable retreat varies with outlet shape, which may help explain intra-regional variability in tidewater outlet glacier behavior. Further, because the perturbation response is dependent on the thickness relative to flotation, varying the bed topography within the range of observational uncertainty can result in either stable or unstable retreat due to the same perturbation. Thus, extreme care must be taken when interpreting the future behavior of actual glacier systems using numerical ice flow models that are not accompanied by comprehensive sensitivity analyses. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Tidewater Unknown The Cryosphere 7 3 1007 1015 |
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English |
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geo envir |
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geo envir E. M. Enderlin I. M. Howat A. Vieli High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Variability in tidewater outlet glacier behavior under similar external forcing has been attributed to differences in outlet shape (i.e., bed elevation and width), but this dependence has not been investigated in detail. Here we use a numerical ice flow model to show that the dynamics of tidewater outlet glaciers under external forcing are highly sensitive to width and bed topography. Our sensitivity tests indicate that for glaciers with similar discharge, the trunks of wider glaciers and those grounded over deeper basal depressions tend to be closer to flotation, so that less dynamically induced thinning results in rapid, unstable retreat following a perturbation. The lag time between the onset of the perturbation and unstable retreat varies with outlet shape, which may help explain intra-regional variability in tidewater outlet glacier behavior. Further, because the perturbation response is dependent on the thickness relative to flotation, varying the bed topography within the range of observational uncertainty can result in either stable or unstable retreat due to the same perturbation. Thus, extreme care must be taken when interpreting the future behavior of actual glacier systems using numerical ice flow models that are not accompanied by comprehensive sensitivity analyses. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
E. M. Enderlin I. M. Howat A. Vieli |
author_facet |
E. M. Enderlin I. M. Howat A. Vieli |
author_sort |
E. M. Enderlin |
title |
High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape |
title_short |
High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape |
title_full |
High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape |
title_fullStr |
High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape |
title_full_unstemmed |
High sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape |
title_sort |
high sensitivity of tidewater outlet glacier dynamics to shape |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1007-2013 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1007/2013/tc-7-1007-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d0a65ffb724b48bf856bb35b9dc46bf2 |
genre |
The Cryosphere Tidewater |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere Tidewater |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 3, Pp 1007-1015 (2013) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-7-1007-2013 1994-0416 1994-0424 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1007/2013/tc-7-1007-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d0a65ffb724b48bf856bb35b9dc46bf2 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1007-2013 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1007 |
op_container_end_page |
1015 |
_version_ |
1766216482438512640 |