Recurring dynamically induced thinning during 1985 to 2010 on Upernavik Isstrom, West Greenland

Many glaciers along the southeast and northwest coasts of Greenland have accelerated, increasing the ice sheet's contribution to global sea-level rise. In this article, we map elevation changes on Upernavik Isstrom (UI), West Greenland, during 2003 to 2009 using high-resolution ice, cloud and l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
Main Authors: Khan, Shfaqat Abbas, Kjaer, Kurt H., Korsgaard, Niels J., Wahr, John, Joughin, Ian R., Timm, Lars H., Bamber, Jonathan L., van den Broeke, Michiel R., Stearns, Leigh A., Hamilton, Gordon S., Csatho, Bea M., Nielsen, Karina, Hurkmans, Ruud, Babonis, Greg
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
ICE-SHEET
CRUSTAL UPLIFT
MASS-LOSS
VARIABILITY
ELEVATION
GRACE
ACCELERATION
GLACIER
MODEL
Greenland
Airborne Topographic Mapper
glacier
Ice Sheet
Upernavik
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1983/9dcfa2e6-98d0-43d9-8a41-7547656fc736
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/9dcfa2e6-98d0-43d9-8a41-7547656fc736
https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002481
Description
Summary:Many glaciers along the southeast and northwest coasts of Greenland have accelerated, increasing the ice sheet's contribution to global sea-level rise. In this article, we map elevation changes on Upernavik Isstrom (UI), West Greenland, during 2003 to 2009 using high-resolution ice, cloud and land elevation satellite laser altimeter data supplemented with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper during 2002 to 2010. To assess thinning prior to 2002, we analyze aerial photographs from 1985. We document at least two distinct periods of dynamically induced ice loss during 1985 to 2010 characterized by a rapid retreat of the calving front, increased ice speed, and lowering of the ice surface. The first period occurred before 1991, whereas the latter occurred during 2005 to 2009. Analyses of air and sea-surface temperature suggest a combination of relatively warm air and ocean water as a potential trigger for the dynamically induced ice loss. We estimate a total catchment-wide ice-mass loss of UI caused by the two events of 72.3 +/- 15.8 Gt during 1985 to 2010, whereas the total melt-induced ice-mass loss during this same period is 19.8 +/- 2.8 Gt. Thus, 79% of the total ice-mass loss of the UI catchment was caused by ice dynamics, indicating the importance of including dynamically induced ice loss in the total mass change budget of the Greenland ice sheet.

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