Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning
Daugaard Jensen Gletscher, Greenland, is a large tidewater glacier terminating in the northwest corner of the Scoresby Sund fjords. We present a time series of surface flow speeds spanning 1985-2010 based on feature tracking of satellite images. The time series confirms that flow speeds remained sta...
Published in: | Annals of Glaciology |
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Cambridge University Press
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Online Access: | https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/26032/ https://doi.org/10.3189/2102AoG60A076 |
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ftulincoln:oai:eprints.lincoln.ac.uk:26032 2023-05-15T13:29:37+02:00 Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning Bevan, S. L. Murray, T. Luckman, A. J. Hanna, E. Huybrechts, P. 2012-11-01 https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/26032/ https://doi.org/10.3189/2102AoG60A076 unknown Cambridge University Press Bevan, S. L., Murray, T., Luckman, A. J., Hanna, E. and Huybrechts, P. (2012) Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning. Annals of Glaciology, 53 (60). pp. 241-248. ISSN 0260-3055 doi:10.3189/2102AoG60A076 F330 Environmental Physics Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftulincoln https://doi.org/10.3189/2102AoG60A076 2022-03-02T20:07:06Z Daugaard Jensen Gletscher, Greenland, is a large tidewater glacier terminating in the northwest corner of the Scoresby Sund fjords. We present a time series of surface flow speeds spanning 1985-2010 based on feature tracking of satellite images. The time series confirms that flow speeds remained stable and reveals a persistent summer acceleration of up to 10 over the lower 10km of the glacier. The front of the 6 km floating tongue fluctuates by little more than the average size of calved icebergs, 1 km. While we are unable to detect any imbalance between ice discharge and surface mass balance within our error estimates, observations suggest that the region is losing mass and experiencing decreases in surface elevation. We conclude that as flow speeds and surface mass balance have remained steady since 1985, the shift from balance to imbalance, leading to elevation decrease, must have occurred prior to this date. As for other stable Greenland tidewater glaciers, the seasonal melt cycle is the dominant influence on flow velocity variation but, if the apparent current thinning rates continue, there is potential for the grounding line to retreat, for calving rates to increase and for the glacier to accelerate. © 2012 Publishing Technology. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology glacier Greenland Scoresby Sund Tidewater University of Lincoln: Lincoln Repository Greenland Sund ENVELOPE(13.644,13.644,66.207,66.207) Scoresby ENVELOPE(162.750,162.750,-66.567,-66.567) Scoresby Sund ENVELOPE(-24.387,-24.387,70.476,70.476) Annals of Glaciology 53 60 241 248 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Lincoln: Lincoln Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftulincoln |
language |
unknown |
topic |
F330 Environmental Physics |
spellingShingle |
F330 Environmental Physics Bevan, S. L. Murray, T. Luckman, A. J. Hanna, E. Huybrechts, P. Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning |
topic_facet |
F330 Environmental Physics |
description |
Daugaard Jensen Gletscher, Greenland, is a large tidewater glacier terminating in the northwest corner of the Scoresby Sund fjords. We present a time series of surface flow speeds spanning 1985-2010 based on feature tracking of satellite images. The time series confirms that flow speeds remained stable and reveals a persistent summer acceleration of up to 10 over the lower 10km of the glacier. The front of the 6 km floating tongue fluctuates by little more than the average size of calved icebergs, 1 km. While we are unable to detect any imbalance between ice discharge and surface mass balance within our error estimates, observations suggest that the region is losing mass and experiencing decreases in surface elevation. We conclude that as flow speeds and surface mass balance have remained steady since 1985, the shift from balance to imbalance, leading to elevation decrease, must have occurred prior to this date. As for other stable Greenland tidewater glaciers, the seasonal melt cycle is the dominant influence on flow velocity variation but, if the apparent current thinning rates continue, there is potential for the grounding line to retreat, for calving rates to increase and for the glacier to accelerate. © 2012 Publishing Technology. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bevan, S. L. Murray, T. Luckman, A. J. Hanna, E. Huybrechts, P. |
author_facet |
Bevan, S. L. Murray, T. Luckman, A. J. Hanna, E. Huybrechts, P. |
author_sort |
Bevan, S. L. |
title |
Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning |
title_short |
Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning |
title_full |
Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning |
title_fullStr |
Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning |
title_full_unstemmed |
Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning |
title_sort |
stable dynamics in a greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/26032/ https://doi.org/10.3189/2102AoG60A076 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(13.644,13.644,66.207,66.207) ENVELOPE(162.750,162.750,-66.567,-66.567) ENVELOPE(-24.387,-24.387,70.476,70.476) |
geographic |
Greenland Sund Scoresby Scoresby Sund |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Sund Scoresby Scoresby Sund |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology glacier Greenland Scoresby Sund Tidewater |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology glacier Greenland Scoresby Sund Tidewater |
op_relation |
Bevan, S. L., Murray, T., Luckman, A. J., Hanna, E. and Huybrechts, P. (2012) Stable dynamics in a Greenland tidewater glacier over 26 years despite reported thinning. Annals of Glaciology, 53 (60). pp. 241-248. ISSN 0260-3055 doi:10.3189/2102AoG60A076 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/2102AoG60A076 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
60 |
container_start_page |
241 |
op_container_end_page |
248 |
_version_ |
1766001524689862656 |