Dynamic vulnerability revealed in the collapse of an Arctic tidewater glacier.

ABSTRACT: Glacier flow instabilities can rapidly increase sea level through enhanced ice discharge. Surge-type glacier accelerations often occur with a decadal to centennial cyclicity suggesting internal mechanisms responsible. Recently, many surging tidewater glaciers around the Arctic Barents Sea region question whether external forces such as climate can trigger dynamic instabilities. Here, we identify a mechanism in which climate change can instigate surges of Arctic tidewater glaciers. Using satellite and seismic remote sensing observations combined with three-dimensional thermo-mechanical modeling of the January 2009 collapse of the Nathorst Glacier System (NGS) in Svalbard, we show that an underlying condition for instability was basal freezing and associated friction increase under the glaci

SUBMITTER: Nuth C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6447555 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature