Linear response of the Greenland ice sheet's tidewater glacier terminus positions to climate
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Gaining knowledge of tidewater glacier (TWG) margin evolution, solid ice flux and their responses to climate over large spatio-temporal scales provides valuable context for the projection of future Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) change. Although...
Published in: | Journal of Glaciology |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2021
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3117650/ https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.13 http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3117650/6/fahrner-et-al-2021-linear-response-of-the-greenland-ice-sheets-tidewater-glacier-terminus-positions-to-climate.pdf |
Summary: | <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Gaining knowledge of tidewater glacier (TWG) margin evolution, solid ice flux and their responses to climate over large spatio-temporal scales provides valuable context for the projection of future Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) change. Although studies of sector-wide responses of TWGs exist, studies at an ice-sheet-wide scale have only just become feasible. Here, we present a dataset of 224 annual TWG margins for 1984–2017 (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>= 3801), showing that averaged over regional scales, normalised terminus change is linear. Regionally linear retreat trends were identified across most sectors of the GrIS starting in the mid-1990s, although in contrast to previous studies, the northeastern sector is shown to have experienced sustained retreat since the mid-1980s. Through cointegration analyses, individual glaciers are shown to have differing sensitivities to potential climate drivers, though on a sector-wide scale the northwest and southeast are shown to be especially sensitive to annual sea surface temperature and June–July–August air temperature, respectively. Although 92% of the analysed glaciers experience retreat across the GrIS, observed increases in absolute flux for the entire ice sheet can be explained by changes in just 11 of these TWGs.</jats:p> |
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