Abstract
Ice-shelf-like floating extensions at the termini of Greenland
glaciers are undergoing rapid changes with potential implications
for the stability of upstream glaciers and the ice sheet as a
whole. While submarine melting is recognized as a major contributor
to mass loss, the spatial distribution of submarine melting and its
contribution to the total mass balance of these floating extensions
is incompletely known and understood. Here, we use high-resolution
WorldView satellite imagery collected between 2011 and 2015 to infer
the magnitude and spatial variability of melt rates under
Greenland's largest remaining ice tongues – Nioghalvfjerdsbræ (79
North Glacier, 79N), Ryder Glacier (RG), and Petermann Glacier (PG). Submarine melt
rates under the ice tongues vary considerably, exceeding
50 m a−1 near the grounding zone and decaying rapidly
downstream. Channels, likely originating from upstream subglacial
channels, give rise to large melt variations across the ice
tongues. We compare the total melt rates to the influx of ice to the
ice tongue to assess their contribution to the current mass
balance. At Petermann Glacier and Ryder Glacier, we find that the
combined submarine and aerial melt approximately balances the ice
flux from the grounded ice sheet. At Nioghalvfjerdsbræ the total
melt flux (14.2 ± 0.96 km3 a−1 w.e., water equivalent)
exceeds the inflow of ice (10.2 ± 0.59 km3 a−1 w.e.), indicating present thinning of the ice tongue.
Citation
ID:
222023
Ref Key:
wilson2017thesatellite-derived