Ocean melting of the Zachariae Isstrom and Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glaciers, northeast Greenland.

ABSTRACT: Zachariae Isstrøm (ZI) and Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79N) are marine-terminating glaciers in northeast Greenland that hold an ice volume equivalent to a 1.1-m global sea level rise. ZI lost its floating ice shelf, sped up, retreated at 650 m/y, and experienced a 5-gigaton/y mass loss. Glacier 79N has been more stable despite its exposure to the same climate forcing. We analyze the impact of ocean thermal forcing on the glaciers. A three-dimensional inversion of airborne gravity data reveals an 800-m-deep, broad channel that allows subsurface, warm, Atlantic Intermediate Water (AIW) (+1.[Formula: see text]C) to reach the front of ZI via two sills at 350-m depth. Subsurface ocean temperature in that channel has warmed by 1.3[Formula: see text]C since 1979. Using an ocean model, we calculate a r

SUBMITTER: An L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7812800 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature