Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature
Rates of ice mass loss at the calving margins of tidewater glaciers (frontal ablation rates) are a key uncertainty in sea level rise projections. Measurements are difficult because mass lost is replaced by ice flow at variable rates, and frontal ablation incorporates sub-aerial calving, and submarin...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1956/11998 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566 |
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:1956/11998 2023-05-15T16:22:14+02:00 Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature Luckman, Adrian Benn, Doug Cottier, Finlo Bevan, Suzanne Nilsen, Frank Inall, Mark 2016-03-01T15:16:25Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1956/11998 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566 eng eng Nature Publishing Group Norges forskningsråd: 214271 urn:issn:2041-1723 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/11998 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566 cristin:1279655 Attribution CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Copyright 2015 Rights Managed by Nature Publishing Group Earth sciences Oceanography Geology and geophysics VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 Peer reviewed Journal article 2016 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566 2023-03-14T17:40:22Z Rates of ice mass loss at the calving margins of tidewater glaciers (frontal ablation rates) are a key uncertainty in sea level rise projections. Measurements are difficult because mass lost is replaced by ice flow at variable rates, and frontal ablation incorporates sub-aerial calving, and submarine melt and calving. Here we derive frontal ablation rates for three dynamically contrasting glaciers in Svalbard from an unusually dense series of satellite images. We combine ocean data, ice-front position and terminus velocity to investigate controls on frontal ablation. We find that frontal ablation is not dependent on ice dynamics, nor reduced by glacier surface freeze-up, but varies strongly with sub-surface water temperature. We conclude that calving proceeds by melt undercutting and ice-front collapse, a process that may dominate frontal ablation where submarine melt can outpace ice flow. Our findings illustrate the potential for deriving simple models of tidewater glacier response to oceanographic forcing. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Svalbard Tidewater University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Svalbard Nature Communications 6 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth sciences Oceanography Geology and geophysics VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 |
spellingShingle |
Earth sciences Oceanography Geology and geophysics VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 Luckman, Adrian Benn, Doug Cottier, Finlo Bevan, Suzanne Nilsen, Frank Inall, Mark Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature |
topic_facet |
Earth sciences Oceanography Geology and geophysics VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 |
description |
Rates of ice mass loss at the calving margins of tidewater glaciers (frontal ablation rates) are a key uncertainty in sea level rise projections. Measurements are difficult because mass lost is replaced by ice flow at variable rates, and frontal ablation incorporates sub-aerial calving, and submarine melt and calving. Here we derive frontal ablation rates for three dynamically contrasting glaciers in Svalbard from an unusually dense series of satellite images. We combine ocean data, ice-front position and terminus velocity to investigate controls on frontal ablation. We find that frontal ablation is not dependent on ice dynamics, nor reduced by glacier surface freeze-up, but varies strongly with sub-surface water temperature. We conclude that calving proceeds by melt undercutting and ice-front collapse, a process that may dominate frontal ablation where submarine melt can outpace ice flow. Our findings illustrate the potential for deriving simple models of tidewater glacier response to oceanographic forcing. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Luckman, Adrian Benn, Doug Cottier, Finlo Bevan, Suzanne Nilsen, Frank Inall, Mark |
author_facet |
Luckman, Adrian Benn, Doug Cottier, Finlo Bevan, Suzanne Nilsen, Frank Inall, Mark |
author_sort |
Luckman, Adrian |
title |
Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature |
title_short |
Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature |
title_full |
Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature |
title_fullStr |
Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature |
title_full_unstemmed |
Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature |
title_sort |
calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1956/11998 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566 |
geographic |
Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard |
genre |
glacier Svalbard Tidewater |
genre_facet |
glacier Svalbard Tidewater |
op_relation |
Norges forskningsråd: 214271 urn:issn:2041-1723 https://hdl.handle.net/1956/11998 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566 cristin:1279655 |
op_rights |
Attribution CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Copyright 2015 Rights Managed by Nature Publishing Group |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766010201510510592 |