Linear response of the Greenland ice sheet's tidewater glacier terminus positions to climate

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Fahrner, Dominik, Lea, James M, Brough, Stephen, Mair, Douglas WF, Abermann, Jakob
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2021
• Subjects: Greenland; glacier; Ice Sheet; Journal of Glaciology; Tidewater
• 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

<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>