Precursor Motion to Iceberg Calving at Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland, Observed with Terrestrial Radar Interferometry

Time-varying elevations near the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer (TRI) in June 2015. An ice block with surface dimensions of 1370 m × 290 m calved on 10 June. TRI-generated time series show that ice elevation near the calving front b...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xie, Surui, Dixon, Timothy H., Voytenko, Denis, Holland, David M., Zheng, Tiantian
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Digital Commons @ University of South Florida 2016
Subjects:
glacier calving
ice block rotation
Lagrangian coordinates
subsurface melting
terrestrial radar interferometry
Earth Sciences
Geology
Greenland
Jakobshavn Isbræ
glacier
Jakobshavn
Jakobshavn isbræ
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/1091
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2091&context=geo_facpub
Description
Summary:Time-varying elevations near the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer (TRI) in June 2015. An ice block with surface dimensions of 1370 m × 290 m calved on 10 June. TRI-generated time series show that ice elevation near the calving front began to increase 65 h prior to the event, and can be fit with a simple block rotation model. We hypothesize that subsurface melting at the base of the floating terminus breaks the gravity-buoyancy equilibrium, leading to slow subsidence and rotation of the block, and its eventual failure.

Similar Items