Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut
A 130 km2 tabular iceberg calved from Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland on 5 August 2012. Subsequent fracturing generated many individual large “ice islands”, including Petermann ice island (PII)-A-1-f, which drifted between Nares Strait and the North Atlantic. Thinning caused by basal and...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2020
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1067-2020 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1067/2020/tc-14-1067-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d6b24e2c1881443097f06329e62a9dba |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:d6b24e2c1881443097f06329e62a9dba 2023-05-15T15:35:07+02:00 Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut A. J. Crawford D. Mueller G. Crocker L. Mingo L. Desjardins D. Dumont M. Babin 2020-03-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1067-2020 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1067/2020/tc-14-1067-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d6b24e2c1881443097f06329e62a9dba en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-14-1067-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1067/2020/tc-14-1067-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d6b24e2c1881443097f06329e62a9dba undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 1067-1081 (2020) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2020 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1067-2020 2023-01-22T19:05:23Z A 130 km2 tabular iceberg calved from Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland on 5 August 2012. Subsequent fracturing generated many individual large “ice islands”, including Petermann ice island (PII)-A-1-f, which drifted between Nares Strait and the North Atlantic. Thinning caused by basal and surface ablation increases the likelihood that these ice islands will fracture and disperse further, thereby increasing the risk to marine transport and infrastructure as well as affecting the distribution of freshwater from the polar ice sheets. We use a unique stationary and mobile ice-penetrating radar dataset collected over four campaigns to PII-A-1-f to quantify and contextualize ice island surface and basal ablation rates and calibrate a forced convection basal ablation model. The ice island thinned by 4.7 m over 11 months. The majority of thinning (73 %) resulted from basal ablation, but the volume loss associated with basal ablation was ∼12 times less than that caused by areal reduction (e.g. wave erosion, calving, and fracture). However, localized thinning may have influenced a large fracture event that occurred along a section of ice that was ∼40 m thinner than the remainder of the ice island. The calibration of the basal ablation model, the first known to be conducted with field data, supports assigning the theoretically derived value of 1.2×10−5 m2∕5 s-1/5 ∘C−1 to the model's bulk heat transfer coefficient with the use of an empirically estimated ice–ocean interface temperature. Overall, this work highlights the value of systematically collecting ice island field data for analyzing deterioration processes, assessing their connections to ice island morphology, and adequately developing models for operational and research purposes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin glacier Greenland Nares strait North Atlantic Nunavut Petermann glacier The Cryosphere Unknown Nunavut Baffin Bay Greenland Nares ENVELOPE(158.167,158.167,-81.450,-81.450) The Cryosphere 14 3 1067 1081 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
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fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir A. J. Crawford D. Mueller G. Crocker L. Mingo L. Desjardins D. Dumont M. Babin Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
A 130 km2 tabular iceberg calved from Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland on 5 August 2012. Subsequent fracturing generated many individual large “ice islands”, including Petermann ice island (PII)-A-1-f, which drifted between Nares Strait and the North Atlantic. Thinning caused by basal and surface ablation increases the likelihood that these ice islands will fracture and disperse further, thereby increasing the risk to marine transport and infrastructure as well as affecting the distribution of freshwater from the polar ice sheets. We use a unique stationary and mobile ice-penetrating radar dataset collected over four campaigns to PII-A-1-f to quantify and contextualize ice island surface and basal ablation rates and calibrate a forced convection basal ablation model. The ice island thinned by 4.7 m over 11 months. The majority of thinning (73 %) resulted from basal ablation, but the volume loss associated with basal ablation was ∼12 times less than that caused by areal reduction (e.g. wave erosion, calving, and fracture). However, localized thinning may have influenced a large fracture event that occurred along a section of ice that was ∼40 m thinner than the remainder of the ice island. The calibration of the basal ablation model, the first known to be conducted with field data, supports assigning the theoretically derived value of 1.2×10−5 m2∕5 s-1/5 ∘C−1 to the model's bulk heat transfer coefficient with the use of an empirically estimated ice–ocean interface temperature. Overall, this work highlights the value of systematically collecting ice island field data for analyzing deterioration processes, assessing their connections to ice island morphology, and adequately developing models for operational and research purposes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. J. Crawford D. Mueller G. Crocker L. Mingo L. Desjardins D. Dumont M. Babin |
author_facet |
A. J. Crawford D. Mueller G. Crocker L. Mingo L. Desjardins D. Dumont M. Babin |
author_sort |
A. J. Crawford |
title |
Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut |
title_short |
Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut |
title_full |
Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut |
title_fullStr |
Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from Baffin Bay, Nunavut |
title_sort |
ice island thinning: rates and model calibration with in situ observations from baffin bay, nunavut |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1067-2020 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1067/2020/tc-14-1067-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d6b24e2c1881443097f06329e62a9dba |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(158.167,158.167,-81.450,-81.450) |
geographic |
Nunavut Baffin Bay Greenland Nares |
geographic_facet |
Nunavut Baffin Bay Greenland Nares |
genre |
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin glacier Greenland Nares strait North Atlantic Nunavut Petermann glacier The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin glacier Greenland Nares strait North Atlantic Nunavut Petermann glacier The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 1067-1081 (2020) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-14-1067-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/1067/2020/tc-14-1067-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d6b24e2c1881443097f06329e62a9dba |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1067-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1067 |
op_container_end_page |
1081 |
_version_ |
1766365409648312320 |