Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher
Glaciers in Southeast Greenland have thinned and receded during the past several decades. Here, we document changes for the Mittivakkat Gletscher, the only glacier in Greenland with long-term mass balance observations and surface velocity measurements (since 1995). Between 1986 and 2011, this glacie...
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ftulincoln:oai:eprints.lincoln.ac.uk:26823 2023-05-15T16:21:11+02:00 Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher Mernild, S. H. Knudsen, N. T. Yde, J. C. Hoffman, M. J. Lipscomb, W. H. Fausto, R. S. Hanna, E. Malmros, J. K. 2012-06-01 https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/26823/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-6-2005-2012 unknown European Geosciences Union (EGU) / Copernicus Publications Mernild, S. H., Knudsen, N. T., Yde, J. C., Hoffman, M. J., Lipscomb, W. H., Fausto, R. S., Hanna, E. and Malmros, J. K. (2012) Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher. Cryosphere Discussions . ISSN 1994-0432 doi:10.5194/tcd-6-2005-2012 F890 Geographical and Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftulincoln https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-6-2005-2012 2022-03-02T20:08:12Z Glaciers in Southeast Greenland have thinned and receded during the past several decades. Here, we document changes for the Mittivakkat Gletscher, the only glacier in Greenland with long-term mass balance observations and surface velocity measurements (since 1995). Between 1986 and 2011, this glacier shrank by 18 % in surface area, 20 % in mean ice thickness, and 33 % in volume. We attribute these changes to summertime warming and to drier winter conditions. Meanwhile, the annual mean ice surface velocity decreased by 30 %, likely as a dynamic result of thinning. This dynamic thinning is predicted by ice deformation theory but has rarely been observed on decadal time scales. Mittivakkat Gletscher summer surface velocities were on average 50–60 % above winter background values, and up to 160 % higher during peak velocity events. The transition from winter to summer values followed the onset of positive temperatures. Satellite observations show area losses for most other glaciers in the region; these glaciers are likely also to have lost volume (in average around one-third) and slowed down in recent decades. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland University of Lincoln: Lincoln Repository Greenland |
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University of Lincoln: Lincoln Repository |
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ftulincoln |
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unknown |
topic |
F890 Geographical and Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified |
spellingShingle |
F890 Geographical and Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified Mernild, S. H. Knudsen, N. T. Yde, J. C. Hoffman, M. J. Lipscomb, W. H. Fausto, R. S. Hanna, E. Malmros, J. K. Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher |
topic_facet |
F890 Geographical and Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified |
description |
Glaciers in Southeast Greenland have thinned and receded during the past several decades. Here, we document changes for the Mittivakkat Gletscher, the only glacier in Greenland with long-term mass balance observations and surface velocity measurements (since 1995). Between 1986 and 2011, this glacier shrank by 18 % in surface area, 20 % in mean ice thickness, and 33 % in volume. We attribute these changes to summertime warming and to drier winter conditions. Meanwhile, the annual mean ice surface velocity decreased by 30 %, likely as a dynamic result of thinning. This dynamic thinning is predicted by ice deformation theory but has rarely been observed on decadal time scales. Mittivakkat Gletscher summer surface velocities were on average 50–60 % above winter background values, and up to 160 % higher during peak velocity events. The transition from winter to summer values followed the onset of positive temperatures. Satellite observations show area losses for most other glaciers in the region; these glaciers are likely also to have lost volume (in average around one-third) and slowed down in recent decades. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mernild, S. H. Knudsen, N. T. Yde, J. C. Hoffman, M. J. Lipscomb, W. H. Fausto, R. S. Hanna, E. Malmros, J. K. |
author_facet |
Mernild, S. H. Knudsen, N. T. Yde, J. C. Hoffman, M. J. Lipscomb, W. H. Fausto, R. S. Hanna, E. Malmros, J. K. |
author_sort |
Mernild, S. H. |
title |
Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher |
title_short |
Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher |
title_full |
Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher |
title_fullStr |
Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher |
title_sort |
recession, thinning, and slowdown of greenland's mittivakkat gletscher |
publisher |
European Geosciences Union (EGU) / Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/26823/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-6-2005-2012 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland |
op_relation |
Mernild, S. H., Knudsen, N. T., Yde, J. C., Hoffman, M. J., Lipscomb, W. H., Fausto, R. S., Hanna, E. and Malmros, J. K. (2012) Recession, thinning, and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher. Cryosphere Discussions . ISSN 1994-0432 doi:10.5194/tcd-6-2005-2012 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-6-2005-2012 |
_version_ |
1766009206732750848 |