Using Acoustic Travel Time to Monitor the Heat Variability of Glacial Fjords

Monitoring the heat content variability of glacial fjords is crucial to understanding the effects of oceanic forcing on marine-terminating glaciers. A Pressure-sensor equipped Inverted Echo Sounder (PIES) was deployed mid-fjord in Sermilik Fjord in southeast Greenland from August 2011 to September 2012 alongside a moored array of instruments recording temperature, conductivity and velocity. Historical hydrography is used to quantify the relationship between acoustic travel time and the vertically-averaged heat content, and a new method is developed for filtering acoustic return echoes in an ice-influenced environment. We show that PIES measurements, combined with a knowledge of the fjord’s two-layer density structure, can be used to reconstruct the thickness and temperature of the inflowing water. Additionally, we find that fjord-shelf exchange events are identifiable in the travel time record implying the PIES can be used to monitor fjord circulation. Finally, we show that PIES data can be combined with moored temperature records to derive the heat content of the upper layer of the fjord where moored instruments are at great risk of being damaged by transiting icebergs.

A first constraint on basal melt-water production of the Greenland ice sheet

The Greenland ice sheet has been one of the largest sources of sea-level rise since the early 2000s. However, basal melt has not been included explicitly in assessments of ice-sheet mass loss so far. Here, we present the first estimate of the total and regional basal melt produced by the ice sheet and the recent change in basal melt through time. We find that the ice sheet’s present basal melt production is 21.4 +4.4/−4.0 Gt per year, and that melt generated by basal friction is responsible for about half of this volume. We estimate that basal melting has increased by 2.9 ± 5.2 Gt during the first decade of the 2000s. As the Arctic warms, we anticipate that basal melt will continue to increase due to faster ice flow and more surface melting thus compounding current mass loss trends, enhancing solid ice discharge, and modifying fjord circulation.

Glacier–plume or glacier–fjord circulation models? A 2-D comparison for Hansbreen–Hansbukta system, Svalbard

Up to 30% of the current tidewater mass loss in Svalbard corresponds to frontal ablation through submarine melting and calving. We developed two-dimensional (2-D) glacier–line–plume and glacier–fjord circulation coupled models, both including subglacial discharge, submarine melting and iceberg calving, to simulate Hansbreen–Hansbukta system, SW Svalbard. We ran both models for 20 weeks, throughout April–August 2010, using different scenarios of subglacial discharge and crevasse water depth. Both models showed large seasonal variations of submarine melting in response to transient fjord temperatures and subglacial discharges. Subglacial discharge intensity and crevasse water depth influenced calving rates. Using the best-fit configuration for both parameters our two coupled models predicted observed front positions reasonably well (±10 m). Although the two models showed different melt-undercutting front shapes, which affected the net-stress fields near the glacier front, no significant effects on the simulated glacier front positions were found. Cumulative calving (91 and 94 m) and submarine melting (108 and 118 m) along the simulated period showed in both models (glacier–plume and glacier–fjord) a 1:1.2 ratio of linear frontal ablation between the two mechanisms. Overall, both models performed well on predicting observed front positions when best-fit subglacial discharges were imposed, the glacier–plume model being 50 times computationally faster.

Scalings for subglacial discharge driven circulation in Greenland's proglacial fjords

<p><br>Around Greenland, the transport of heat and fresh meltwater between the ocean and Greenland's Ice Sheet is mediated by circulation in several hundred proglacial fjords. These fjords are long and narrow, with circulation controlled by a variety of processes. This circulation, and the resultant heat transported to the ice sheet has global implications. However, the spatial scales of these fjords means that they cannot be directly represented in global scale climate models, as currently achievable horizontal resolutions are too coarse to resolve fjords directly. Therefore, a subgrid-scale parameterization scheme is required, to include the impact of fjord circulation on Greenland's Ice Sheet in these models. The development of such a scheme requires increased theoretical understanding, with the aim of capturing the circulation response simply, over a relevant range of the parameter space.</p><p>Current climate models add freshwater runoff from Greenland's Ice Sheet into the ocean model in the surface grid cell, and do not account for the impacts of fjord circulation on melt rates at glacial termini. Therefore, we focus on predicting the depth at which fresh meltwater enters the wider ocean, and the flow structure at the ice face itself, to understand the feedback on ice melt rates. We consider a subglacial discharge driven regime, with a localised source of subglacial discharge into the fjord at the glacial grounding line. We employ a combination of computational modelling using idealised configurations in MITgcm, and theoretical explorations, to capture this circulation as simply as possible. For fjords without sills, we find that the cross-fjord integrated velocity profile at the fjord mouth echoes that at the ice face. Further, we find that a horizontal recirculation cell develops at the ice face, as the fjord responds to horizontal velocities driven by the plume itself, generating flow across the entire ice face. We use scaling laws previously developed for turbulent plumes to provide a simple prediction of the cross-fjord integrated velocity structure at the fjord mouth, predicting the depth level at which meltwater enters the wider ocean. We develop theoretical predictions for the cross-fjord flow at the ice face, as a consequence of the flow directly induced by a buoyant plume and the circulation response in the fjord, allowing prediction of the pattern of melt across the ice face.</p>

Significant contribution of small icebergs to the freshwater budget in Greenland fjords

Icebergs represent nearly half of the mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet and provide a distributed source of freshwater along fjords which can alter fjord circulation, nutrient levels, and ultimately the Meridional Overturning Circulation. Here we present analyses of high resolution optical satellite imagery using convolutional neural networks to accurately delineate iceberg edges in two East Greenland fjords. We find that a significant portion of icebergs in fjords are comprised of small icebergs that were not detected in previously-available coarser resolution satellite images. We show that the preponderance of small icebergs results in high freshwater delivery, as well as a short life span of icebergs in fjords. We conclude that an inability to identify small icebergs leads to inaccurate frequency-size distribution of icebergs in Greenland fjords, an underestimation of iceberg area (specifically for small icebergs), and an overestimation of iceberg life span.

Hydrology and runoff routing of glacierized drainage basins in the Kongsfjord area, northwest Svalbard

Freshwater discharge from tidewater glaciers modulates fjord circulation and impacts fjord ecosystems. There can be significant delays between meltwater production at the glacier surface, and discharge into the fjord. Here, we present a hydrological analysis of the tidewater glaciers around Kongsfjorden, northwest of Svalbard, examining the pathways of glacier surface melt to the glacier fronts. To simulate discharge hydrographs at the outlets of the major drainage basins in the Kongsfjord area we use 1) a simple, heuristic routing model and 2) the physically-based model HydroFlow to route runoff derived from a coupled surface energy balance – snow model. Plume observations at one of the tidewater glacier outlets and measurements of proglacial discharge of a land-terminating glacier are used for model calibration. Our analysis suggests that the local subglacial topography diverts a substantial amount of water from the drainage area of the glacier Kongsbreen to the neighboring glacier Kronebreen, across the border of their surface catchments. This is supported by the relative sizes of the plumes observed at the respective glacier fronts. Runoff from the glaciers on the south side of the fjord is one order magnitude lower than runoff from the glaciers on the east and north sides of the fjord, reflecting differences in the size of the glaciers. We derive discharge hydrographs at all the major outlets of Kongsfjord basin, presenting here a detailed analysis of two of the glacierized basins. The average annual discharge period from the tidewater glaciers due to surface runoff was 105 ± 10 days. The largest discharge comes from Kronebreen, which is equivalent to around 40 % of the total freshwater flux to the fjord.

Depth and properties of freshwater export from the Greenland Ice Sheet modulated by ice-ocean processes

<p>Freshwater export from the Greenland Ice Sheet to the surrounding ocean has increased by 50% since the early 1990s, and may triple over the coming century under high greenhouse gas emissions. This increasing freshwater has the potential to influence both the regional and large-scale ocean, including marine ecosystems. Yet quantification of these impacts remains uncertain in part due to poor characterization of freshwater export, and in particular the transformation of freshwater around the ice sheet margin by ice-ocean processes, such as submarine melting, plumes and fjord circulation. Here, we combine in-situ observations, ocean reanalyses and simple models for ice-ocean processes to estimate the depth and properties of freshwater export around the full Greenland ice sheet from 1991 to present. The results show significant regional variability driven primarily by the depth at which freshwater runoff leaves the ice sheet. Areas with deeply-grounded marine-terminating glaciers are likely to export freshwater to the ocean as a dilute mixture of freshwater and externally-sourced deep water masses, while freshwater from areas with many land-terminating glaciers is exported as a more concentrated mixture of freshwater and near-surface waters. A handful of large glacier-fjord systems dominate ice sheet freshwater export, and the vast majority of freshwater export occurs subsurface. Our results provide an ice sheet-wide first-order characterization of how ice-ocean processes modulate Greenland freshwater export, and are an important step towards accurate representation of Greenland freshwater in large-scale ocean models.</p>

Glacier-plume or glacier-fjord circulation models? A model intercomparison for Hansbreen-Hansbukta system, Svalbard

<p> <span>Up to 30% of the global tidewater mass loss corresponds to frontal ablation through submarine melting and calving. However, the glacier-fjord interactions remain poorly understood and challenging to constrain in the models. We have developed a 2D glacier flowline-plume coupled model that includes subglacial discharge, submarine melting and iceberg calving to simulate Hansbreen-Hansbukta system (SW Svalbard). We run the model for 20 weeks, from April to September of 2010, with weekly information exchange between glacier and plume models. The same set up and constraints of a previous glacier-fjord </span><span>circulation </span><span>model are used here, making the results of both simulations comparable. We consider a 200 m-width subglacial discharging channel, which was found to be a good approximation in the previous glacier-fjord model. Submarine melt rates show high sensitivity to the subglacial-discharge and ambient fjord-temperature intraseasonal evolution. Calving rates are highly dependent on both submarine melting and crevasse water depth. Glacier-plume and glacier-fjord coupled models differ in vertically-accumulated submarine melt rates (up to 30 % higher for the glacier-plume model) and show different melt-undercutting front shapes, which have an influence on the net stress fields near the glacier front. The quasi-linear melt-undercutting morphology exhibited by the glacier-plume model promotes higher calving rates than the quasi-parabolic front shape resulting from the glacier-fjord model, although both models predict similar front positions. Given that the glacier-plume model diminishes the computational cost by a factor of >50, we think that it is a good option for projection studies, as long as we apply appropriate constraints to subglacial discharge fluxes and ambient fjord temperatures.</span></p>

Towards tackling ice-sheet ocean interaction with Finite Element Methods

<p><span>Ice sheet-ocean interaction is important to properly understand phenomena such as ice sheet melting and ocean circulation. While the long term goal of this project is to fully couple the ice and ocean in one single numerical framework, we here start by modelling the ocean. We use the full non-hydrostatic equations in order to accurately model the complex ocean dynamics near the ice sheets. As numerical method, we employ finite element methods due to their capability of representing a complex fjord geometry and locally refining the mesh in the areas which require more careful handling, and its strong mathematical foundation. This will allow to overcome classical problems such as representing a moving ice shelf in a discretized setting. We here present an example of modeled fjord circulation obtained simulating the model with the FEniCS computing platform. <br></span></p>