Precursor Motion to Iceberg Calving at Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland, Observed with Terrestrial Radar Interferometry

Time-varying elevations near the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer (TRI) in June 2015. An ice block with surface dimensions of 1370 m × 290 m calved on 10 June. TRI-generated time series show that ice elevation near the calving front b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: Xie, Surui, Dixon, Timothy H., Voytenko, Denis, Holland, David M., Zheng, Tiantian
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Digital Commons @ University of South Florida 2016
Subjects:
glacier calving
ice block rotation
Lagrangian coordinates
subsurface melting
terrestrial radar interferometry
Earth Sciences
Geology
Greenland
Jakobshavn Isbræ
glacier
Jakobshavn
Jakobshavn isbræ
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/1091
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.104
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/context/geo_facpub/article/2091/viewcontent/precursor_motion_to_iceberg_calving_at_jakobshavn_isbrae_greenland_observed_with_terrestrial_radar_interferometry.pdf
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/context/geo_facpub/article/2091/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/Supplementary_information.pdf
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Summary:Time-varying elevations near the calving front of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer (TRI) in June 2015. An ice block with surface dimensions of 1370 m × 290 m calved on 10 June. TRI-generated time series show that ice elevation near the calving front began to increase 65 h prior to the event, and can be fit with a simple block rotation model. We hypothesize that subsurface melting at the base of the floating terminus breaks the gravity-buoyancy equilibrium, leading to slow subsidence and rotation of the block, and its eventual failure.

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