Relationship between flow speed variability of three tidewater glaciers and surface melt intensity in Greenland between 1979 and 2006

Lei Yang; Dongxiao Wang

doi:10.1007/s00343-013-1214-3

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Relationship between flow speed variability of three tidewater glaciers and surface melt intensity in Greenland between 1979 and 2006

Updated：2023-05-16

- Relationship between flow speed variability of three tidewater glaciers and surface melt intensity in Greenland between 1979 and 2006
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 31, Issue 1, Pages: 202-209(2013)
- Affiliations：
  
  State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography South China Sea Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Author bio：
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-013-1214-3
  CLC：
- Online First：16 January 2013，
  
  Published：2013
- Accepted：
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Yang, L., Wang, D. Relationship between flow speed variability of three tidewater glaciers and surface melt intensity in Greenland between 1979 and 2006., Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 31, 202–209 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-013-1214-3
DOI：

Yang, L., Wang, D. Relationship between flow speed variability of three tidewater glaciers and surface melt intensity in Greenland between 1979 and 2006., Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 31, 202–209 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-013-1214-3 DOI：

摘要

Abstract

The margin of the Greenland ice sheet has undergone rapid changes over the past decade as a result of the thinning

acceleration

and retreat of many fast-flowing tidewater outlet glaciers. Satellite observations show that three major tidewater outlet glaciers in Greenland retreated between 2000 and 2005

with synchronous increases in flow speed

causing a deficit in ice sheet mass budget and the potential for sea level rise. In this study

we investigated whether this acceleration was related to surface melt processes

and found that both flow speed and positive degree day (PDD) anomalies of the three glaciers varied together

indicating a causal relationship. Jakobshavn Isbræ had lower flow speeds before 2000

during which PDD anomalies were negative

except for modest warming in 1993 and 1995. From 1999–2000

during which it is thought a threshold was passed

the flow speed of the glacier started to increase. However

the two glaciers in east Greenland showed a delayed response. Abrupt warming occurred in the vicinity of the two glaciers around 2001

but flow speed did not increase until 2003 for the Helheim Glacier

and until 2004 for the Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier. Furthermore

the two eastern glaciers switched to a deceleration mode more quickly than Jakobshavn Isbræ. The observed differences in both acceleration and deceleration among the glaciers suggest that the relationship between surface melt and outlet glacier dynamics is not simple but complex.

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references

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