Extensive retreat of Greenland tidewater glaciers, 2000-2010

• Published in: Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
• Main Authors: Murray, T, Scharrer, K, Selmes, N, Booth, AD, James, TD, Bevan, SL, Bradley, J, Cook, S, Cordero Llana, L, Drocourt, Y, Dyke, L, Goldsack, A, Hughes, AL, Luckman, AJ, McGovern, J
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Inst Arctic Alpine Res 2015
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience; Glaciology; Greenland; Antarctic and Alpine Research; Arctic; glacier; Ice Sheet; Tidewater
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1657/AAAR0014-049; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/102760

Overall mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet nearly doubled during the early 2000sresulting in an increased contribution to sea-level rise, with this step-change being mainlyattributed to the widespread frontal retreat and accompanying dynamic thinning of tidewaterglaciers. Changes in glacier calving-front positions are easily derived from remotelysensed imagery and provide a record of dynamic change. However, ice-sheet-wide studiesof calving fronts have been either spatially or temporally limited. In this study multiplecalving-front positions were derived for 199 Greenland marine-terminating outlet glacierswith width greater than 1 km using Landsat imagery for the 11-year period 20002010 inorder to identify regional seasonal and inter-annual variations. During this period, outletglaciers were characterized by sustained and substantial retreat summing to more than 267km, with only 11 glaciers showing overall advance. In general, the pattern of mass loss detectedby GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and other measurementsis reflected in the calving record of Greenland glaciers. Our results suggest several regionsin the south and east of the ice sheet likely share controls on their dynamic changes, butno simple single control is apparent.