scholarly journals The annual glaciohydrology cycle in the ablation zone of the Greenland ice sheet: Part 1. Hydrology model

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (204) ◽  
pp. 697-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Colgan ◽  
Harihar Rajaram ◽  
Robert Anderson ◽  
Konrad Steffen ◽  
Thomas Phillips ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Residence Time ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Hydraulic Head ◽  
Ablation Zone ◽  
Hydrology Model ◽  
Hydrologic System ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Ice Velocity ◽  
Subglacial Drainage

AbstractWe apply a novel one-dimensional glacier hydrology model that calculates hydraulic head to the tidewater-terminating Sermeq Avannarleq flowline of the Greenland ice sheet. Within a plausible parameter space, the model achieves a quasi-steady-state annual cycle in which hydraulic head oscillates close to flotation throughout the ablation zone. Flotation is briefly achieved during the summer melt season along a ∼17 km stretch of the ∼50 km of flowline within the ablation zone. Beneath the majority of the flowline, subglacial conduit storage ‘closes’ (i.e. obtains minimum radius) during the winter and ‘opens’ (i.e. obtains maximum radius) during the summer. Along certain stretches of the flowline, the model predicts that subglacial conduit storage remains open throughout the year. A calculated mean glacier water residence time of ∼2.2 years implies that significant amounts of water are stored in the glacier throughout the year. We interpret this residence time as being indicative of the timescale over which the glacier hydrologic system is capable of adjusting to external surface meltwater forcings. Based on in situ ice velocity observations, we suggest that the summer speed-up event generally corresponds to conditions of increasing hydraulic head during inefficient subglacial drainage. Conversely, the slowdown during fall generally corresponds to conditions of decreasing hydraulic head during efficient subglacial drainage.

Melt-induced speed-up of Greenland ice sheet offset by efficient subglacial drainage

Nature ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 469 (7331) ◽  
pp. 521-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aud Venke Sundal ◽  
Andrew Shepherd ◽  
Peter Nienow ◽  
Edward Hanna ◽  
Steven Palmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Subglacial Drainage

scholarly journals Correspondence

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (225) ◽  
pp. 202-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Helanow ◽  
Toby Meierbachtol ◽  
Peter Jansson
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Close Correlation ◽  
Satisfactory Description ◽  
Physical Integrity ◽  
Ice Velocity ◽  
Process Level ◽  
Subglacial Drainage

Recent efforts have been made to increase our understanding of the dynamics of ice-sheet hydrology. Notably, much work has focused on the southwest sector of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS), with intense data collection on diurnal to interannual timescales (e.g. Bartholomew and others, 2012; Cowton and others, 2013; Doyle and others, 2013). Observations show a close correlation between surface meltwater production and the seasonal ice-sheet acceleration, and it is a well-accepted hypothesis that an increase in the former drives the latter via meltwater transfer through the subglacial drainage system (e.g. Zwally and others, 2002). However, due to the remote nature and complexity of the subglacial domain, a satisfactory description at the process level has remained elusive. Better understanding of the coupling of meltwater forcing on ice velocity through the subglacial component is therefore necessary to improve the physical integrity of ice-sheet models.

scholarly journals Supraglacial forcing of subglacial drainage in the ablation zone of the Greenland ice sheet

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Bartholomew ◽  
Peter Nienow ◽  
Andrew Sole ◽  
Douglas Mair ◽  
Thomas Cowton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ablation Zone ◽  
Subglacial Drainage

scholarly journals Greenland Ice Mapping Project: Ice Flow Velocity Variation at submonthly to decadal time scales

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Joughin ◽  
Ben E. Smith ◽  
Ian Howat
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Velocity Variation ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Ice Velocity ◽  
Year 2000 ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ice Sheet Mapping

Abstract. We describe several new ice velocity maps produced by the Greenland Ice Sheet Mapping Project (GIMP) using Landsat 8 and Copernicus Sentinel 1A/B data. We then focus on several sites where we analyse these data in conjunction with earlier data from this project, which extend back to the year 2000. At Jakobshavn Isbrae and Koge Bugt, we find good agreement when comparing results from different sensors. In a change from recent behaviour, Jakobshavn Isbrae began slowing substantially in 2017, with a mid-summer peak that was even slower than some previous winter minimums. Over the last decade, we identify two major slowdown events at Koge Bugt that coincide with short-term advances of the terminus. We also examined populations of glaciers in northwest and southwest Greenland to produce a record of speedup since 2000. Collectively these glaciers continue to speed up, but there are regional differences in the timing of periods of peak speedup. In addition, we computed trends for much of the southwest margin of the ice sheet where other work has suggested slowing ice flow in response to increased melting. Contrary to the earlier results, we find no evidence for a slowdown distributed over a wide area. Finally, although consistency of the data generally is good through time and across sensors, our analysis indicates substantial differences can arise in regions with high strain rates (e.g., shear margins) where sensor resolution can become a factor. For applications such as constraining model inversions, users should factor in the impact that the data's resolution has on their results.

Greenland ice sheet hydrology

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vena W. Chu
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
Surface Water Hydrology ◽  
Basal Sliding ◽  
Hydrologic System ◽  
Global Sea Level

Understanding Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) hydrology is essential for evaluating response of ice dynamics to a warming climate and future contributions to global sea level rise. Recently observed increases in temperature and melt extent over the GrIS have prompted numerous remote sensing, modeling, and field studies gauging the response of the ice sheet and outlet glaciers to increasing meltwater input, providing a quickly growing body of literature describing seasonal and annual development of the GrIS hydrologic system. This system is characterized by supraglacial streams and lakes that drain through moulins, providing an influx of meltwater into englacial and subglacial environments that increases basal sliding speeds of outlet glaciers in the short term. However, englacial and subglacial drainage systems may adjust to efficiently drain increased meltwater without significant changes to ice dynamics over seasonal and annual scales. Both proglacial rivers originating from land-terminating glaciers and subglacial conduits under marine-terminating glaciers represent direct meltwater outputs in the form of fjord sediment plumes, visible in remotely sensed imagery. This review provides the current state of knowledge on GrIS surface water hydrology, following ice sheet surface meltwater production and transport via supra-, en-, sub-, and proglacial processes to final meltwater export to the ocean. With continued efforts targeting both process-level and systems analysis of the hydrologic system, the larger picture of how future changes in Greenland hydrology will affect ice sheet glacier dynamics and ultimately global sea level rise can be advanced.

scholarly journals The effect of the north-east ice stream on the Greenland ice sheet in changing climates

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Greve ◽  
S. Otsu
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Simulation Code ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Basal Sliding ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Fast Flow

Abstract. The north-east Greenland ice stream (NEGIS) was discovered as a large fast-flow feature of the Greenland ice sheet by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaginary of the ERS-1 satellite. In this study, the NEGIS is implemented in the dynamic/thermodynamic, large-scale ice-sheet model SICOPOLIS (Simulation Code for POLythermal Ice Sheets). In the first step, we simulate the evolution of the ice sheet on a 10-km grid for the period from 250 ka ago until today, driven by a climatology reconstructed from a combination of present-day observations and GCM results for the past. We assume that the NEGIS area is characterized by enhanced basal sliding compared to the "normal", slowly-flowing areas of the ice sheet, and find that the misfit between simulated and observed ice thicknesses and surface velocities is minimized for a sliding enhancement by the factor three. In the second step, the consequences of the NEGIS, and also of surface-meltwater-induced acceleration of basal sliding, for the possible decay of the Greenland ice sheet in future warming climates are investigated. It is demonstrated that the ice sheet is generally very susceptible to global warming on time-scales of centuries and that surface-meltwater-induced acceleration of basal sliding can speed up the decay significantly, whereas the NEGIS is not likely to dynamically destabilize the ice sheet as a whole.

scholarly journals Greenland ice velocity maps from the PROMICE project

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3491-3512
Author(s):  
Anne Solgaard ◽  
Anders Kusk ◽  
John Peter Merryman Boncori ◽  
Jørgen Dall ◽  
Kenneth D. Mankoff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Temporal Consistency ◽  
Gps Measurements ◽  
High Accumulation ◽  
Synthetic Aperture Radar Data ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Ice Velocity ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. We present the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE) Ice Velocity product (https://doi.org/10.22008/promice/data/sentinel1icevelocity/greenlandicesheet, Solgaard and Kusk, 2021), which is a time series of Greenland Ice Sheet ice velocity mosaics spanning September 2016 through to the present. The product is based on Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar data and has a 500 m grid spacing. A new mosaic is available every 12 d and spans two consecutive Sentinel-1 cycles (24 d). The product is made available within ∼ 10 d of the last acquisition and includes all possible 6 and 12 d pairs within the two Sentinel-1A cycles. We describe our operational processing chain from data selection, mosaicking, and error estimation to final outlier removal. The product is validated against in situ GPS measurements. We find that the standard deviation of the difference between satellite- and GPS-derived velocities (and bias) is 20 m yr−1 (−3 m yr−1) and 27 m yr−1 (−2 m yr−1) for the components in an eastern and northern direction, respectively. Over stable ground the values are 8 m yr−1 (0.1 m yr−1) and 12 m yr−1 (−0.6 m yr−1) in an eastern and northern direction, respectively. This is within the expected values; however, we expect that the GPS measurements carry a considerable part of this uncertainty. We investigate variations in coverage from both a temporal and spatial perspective. The best spatial coverage is achieved in winter due to the comprehensive data coverage by Sentinel-1 and high coherence, while summer mosaics have the lowest coverage due to widespread melt. The southeast Greenland Ice Sheet margin, along with other areas of high accumulation and melt, often has gaps in the ice velocity mosaics. The spatial comprehensiveness and temporal consistency make the product ideal both for monitoring and for studying ice-sheet-wide and glacier-specific ice discharge and dynamics of glaciers on seasonal scales.

scholarly journals Assessing ice margin fluctuations on differing timescales: Chronological constraints from Sermeq Kujatdleq and Nordenskiöld Gletscher, central West Greenland

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 1160-1172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel E Kelley ◽  
Jason P Briner ◽  
Sandy L O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
West Greenland ◽  
Southern Site ◽  
Ice Velocity ◽  
Observational Record ◽  
Local Variability

The observational record of ice margin position reveals asynchrony in both the timing and magnitude of Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) margin fluctuations and illustrates the complex reactions of ice sheets to climatic perturbations. In this study, we reconstruct the timing and pattern of middle- and late-Holocene GrIS margin fluctuations at two locations, ~190 km apart, in central West Greenland using radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from proglacial-threshold lakes. Our results demonstrate that deglaciation occurs at both sites during the early Holocene, with the ice sheet remaining in a smaller-than-present ice margin configuration until ~500 years ago when it readvanced into lake catchments at both sites. At our northern site, Sermeq Kujatdleq, the late-Holocene advance of the GrIS approached maximum position during the past 280 years, with the culmination of the advance occurring at AD 1992–1994, and modern retreat was underway by AD 1998–2001. In contrast, field and observational evidence suggest that the GrIS at our southern site, Nordenskiöld Gletscher, has been advancing or stable throughout the 20th century. These results, in conjunction with previous work in the region, highlight the asynchronous nature of late-Holocene advances and subsequent modern retreat, implying that local variability, such as ice velocity or ice dynamics, is responsible for modulating ice margin response to changes in climate on these decadal to centennial timescales. Additional high-resolution records of past ice sheet fluctuations are needed to inform and more accurately constrain our predictions of future cryosphere response to changes in climate.

scholarly journals Quantifying supraglacial meltwater pathways in the Paakitsoq region, West Greenland

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (239) ◽  
pp. 464-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
CONRAD KOZIOL ◽  
NEIL ARNOLD ◽  
ALLEN POPE ◽  
WILLIAM COLGAN
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Average Intensity ◽  
West Greenland ◽  
Surface Drainage ◽  
Subglacial Environment ◽  
Hydrology Model

ABSTRACTIncreased summer ice velocities on the Greenland ice sheet are driven by meltwater input to the subglacial environment. However, spatial patterns of surface input and partitioning of meltwater between different pathways to the base remain poorly understood. To further our understanding of surface drainage, we apply a supraglacial hydrology model to the Paakitsoq region, West Greenland for three contrasting melt seasons. During an average melt season, crevasses drain ~47% of surface runoff, lake hydrofracture drains ~3% during the hydrofracturing events themselves, while the subsequent surface-to-bed connections drain ~21% and moulins outside of lake basins drain ~15%. Lake hydrofracture forms the primary drainage pathway at higher elevations (above ~850 m) while crevasses drain a significant proportion of meltwater at lower elevations. During the two higher intensity melt seasons, model results show an increase (~5 and ~6% of total surface runoff) in the proportion of runoff drained above ~1300 m relative to the melt season of average intensity. The potential for interannual changes in meltwater partitioning could have implications for how the dynamics of the ice sheet respond to ongoing changes in meltwater production.

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