Ice flux evolution in fast flowing areas of the Greenland ice sheet over the 20th and 21st centuries

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Peano, Daniele, Colleoni, Florence, Quiquet, Aurélien, Masina, Simona
• Other Authors: Università Ca’ Foscari, Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Sezione di Bologna (INGV), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: climate change; ice-sheet mass balance; ice-sheet modelling; ice streams; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Greenland; East Greenland; glacier; Ice Sheet; Jakobshavn; Journal of Glaciology; Petermann glacier
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03226809; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03226809/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03226809/file/div-class-title-ice-flux-evolution-in-fast-flowing-areas-of-the-greenland-ice-sheet-over-the-20th-and-21st-centuries-div.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.12

International audience This study investigates the evolution of Greenland ice sheet flux focusing on five of the main fast flowing regions (Petermann glacier, North East Greenland Ice Stream, Kangerdlugssuaq glacier, Helheim glacier and Jakobshavn glacier) in response to 20th and 21st century climate change. A hybrid (shallow ice and shallow shelf) ice-sheet model (ISM) is forced with the combined outputs of a set of seven CMIP5 models and the regional climate model MAR. The ISM simulates the present-day ice velocity pattern, topography and surface mass balance (SMB) in good agreement with observations. Except for the Kangerdlugssuaq glacier, over the 21st century all the fast-flowing areas have exhibited a decrease in ice flux as a result of a negative SMB rather than dynamical changes. Only the fronts of Kangerdlugssuaq and Helheim glaciers have shown an interannual variability driven by dynamical rather than climate changes. Finally, the results predict a substantial inland ice margin retreat by the end of the 21st century, especially along the northern coasts.