Heterogeneous impacts of ocean thermal forcing on ice discharge from Greenland's peripheral tidewater glaciers over 2000-2021.
Sci Rep
; 14(1): 11316, 2024 May 17.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38760481
ABSTRACT
The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at increasing rates. Substantial amounts of this mass loss occur by ice discharge which is influenced by ocean thermal forcing. The ice sheet is surrounded by thousands of peripheral, dynamically decoupled glaciers. The mass loss from these glaciers is disproportionately high considering their negligible share in Greenland' overall ice mass. We study the relevance of ocean thermal forcing for ice discharge evolution in the context of this contrasting behaviour. Our estimate of ice discharge from the peripheral tidewater glaciers yields a rather stable Greenland-wide mean of 5.40 ± 3.54 Gt a-1 over 2000-2021. The evolutions of ice discharge and ocean thermal forcing are heterogeneous around Greenland. We observe a significant sector-wide increase of ice discharge in the East and a significant sector-wide decrease in the Northeast. Ocean thermal forcing shows significant increases along the northern/eastern coast, while otherwise unchanged conditions or decreases prevail. For East Greenland, this implies a clear influence of ocean thermal forcing on ice discharge. Similarly, we find clear influences at peripheral tidewater glaciers with thick termini that are similar to ice sheet outlet glaciers. At the peripheral glaciers in Northeast Greenland ice discharge evolution opposes ocean thermal forcing for unknown reasons.
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1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Rep
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Alemania