Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet
The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) stores the largest amount of freshwater in the Northern Hemisphere and has been recently losing mass at an increasing rate. An eddy-permitting ocean general circulation model is forced with realistic estimates of freshwater flux from the GrIS. Two approaches are used t...
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Online Access: | https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/aab84e80-9715-4038-8772-f8498486c4f5 https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-z0e0-wd59 |
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ftunivalberta:oai:era.library.ualberta.ca:aab84e80-9715-4038-8772-f8498486c4f5 2024-06-23T07:51:28+00:00 Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet Gillard, Laura C. Hu, Xianmin Myers, Paul G. Bamber, Jonathan L. 2016-01-01 https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/aab84e80-9715-4038-8772-f8498486c4f5 https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-z0e0-wd59 English eng https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/aab84e80-9715-4038-8772-f8498486c4f5 doi:10.7939/r3-z0e0-wd59 © 2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Convection Greenland ice sheet Labrador Sea Marine terminating glaciers Meltwater Oceanography Article (Published) 2016 ftunivalberta https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-z0e0-wd59 2024-06-03T03:09:00Z The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) stores the largest amount of freshwater in the Northern Hemisphere and has been recently losing mass at an increasing rate. An eddy-permitting ocean general circulation model is forced with realistic estimates of freshwater flux from the GrIS. Two approaches are used to track the meltwater and its trajectory in the ocean. We show that freshwater from western and eastern GrIS have markedly different fates, on a decadal time scale. Freshwater from west Greenland predominantly accumulates in Baffin Bay before being exported south down the Labrador shelf. Meanwhile, GrIS freshwater entering the interior of the Labrador Sea, where deep convection occurs, comes predominantly (∼80%) from east Greenland. Therefore, hosing experiments, which generally assume a uniform freshwater flux spatially, will not capture the true hydrographic response and regional impacts. In addition, narrow boundary currents are important for freshwater transport and distribution, requiring simulations with eddy-resolving resolution. Article in Journal/Newspaper Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin East Greenland Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea University of Alberta: Era - Education and Research Archive Baffin Bay Greenland Labrador Shelf ENVELOPE(-58.000,-58.000,56.000,56.000) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Alberta: Era - Education and Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalberta |
language |
English |
topic |
Convection Greenland ice sheet Labrador Sea Marine terminating glaciers Meltwater Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Convection Greenland ice sheet Labrador Sea Marine terminating glaciers Meltwater Oceanography Gillard, Laura C. Hu, Xianmin Myers, Paul G. Bamber, Jonathan L. Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet |
topic_facet |
Convection Greenland ice sheet Labrador Sea Marine terminating glaciers Meltwater Oceanography |
description |
The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) stores the largest amount of freshwater in the Northern Hemisphere and has been recently losing mass at an increasing rate. An eddy-permitting ocean general circulation model is forced with realistic estimates of freshwater flux from the GrIS. Two approaches are used to track the meltwater and its trajectory in the ocean. We show that freshwater from western and eastern GrIS have markedly different fates, on a decadal time scale. Freshwater from west Greenland predominantly accumulates in Baffin Bay before being exported south down the Labrador shelf. Meanwhile, GrIS freshwater entering the interior of the Labrador Sea, where deep convection occurs, comes predominantly (∼80%) from east Greenland. Therefore, hosing experiments, which generally assume a uniform freshwater flux spatially, will not capture the true hydrographic response and regional impacts. In addition, narrow boundary currents are important for freshwater transport and distribution, requiring simulations with eddy-resolving resolution. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gillard, Laura C. Hu, Xianmin Myers, Paul G. Bamber, Jonathan L. |
author_facet |
Gillard, Laura C. Hu, Xianmin Myers, Paul G. Bamber, Jonathan L. |
author_sort |
Gillard, Laura C. |
title |
Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet |
title_short |
Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full |
Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet |
title_fullStr |
Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet |
title_sort |
meltwater pathways from marine terminating glaciers of the greenland ice sheet |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/aab84e80-9715-4038-8772-f8498486c4f5 https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-z0e0-wd59 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.000,-58.000,56.000,56.000) |
geographic |
Baffin Bay Greenland Labrador Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Baffin Bay Greenland Labrador Shelf |
genre |
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin East Greenland Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea |
genre_facet |
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin East Greenland Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea |
op_relation |
https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/aab84e80-9715-4038-8772-f8498486c4f5 doi:10.7939/r3-z0e0-wd59 |
op_rights |
© 2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-z0e0-wd59 |
_version_ |
1802642587716157440 |