Characteristics of meltwater export from Jakobshavn Isbræ and Ilulissat Icefjord
Characteristics of meltwater export from Jakobshavn Isbræ and Ilulissat Icefjord
Date
2017-09-04
Authors
Beaird, Nicholas
Straneo, Fiamma
Jenkins, William J.
Straneo, Fiamma
Jenkins, William J.
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DOI
10.1017/aog.2017.19
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Keywords
Glacier discharge
Icebergs
Ice/ocean interactions
Meltwater chemistry
Polar and subpolar oceans
Icebergs
Ice/ocean interactions
Meltwater chemistry
Polar and subpolar oceans
Abstract
Jakobshavn Isbræ, which terminates in Ilulissat Icefjord, has undergone rapid retreat and is
currently the largest contributor to ice-sheet mass loss among Greenland’s marine terminating glaciers.
Accelerating mass loss is increasing fresh water discharge to the ocean, which can feed back on ice melt,
impact marine ecosystems and potentially modify regional and larger scale ocean circulation. Here we
present hydrographic observations, including inert geochemical tracers, that allow the first quantitative
description of the glacially-modified waters exported from the Jakobshavn/Icefjord system. Observations
within the fjord suggest a deep-reaching overturning cell driven by glacial buoyancy forcing. Modified
waters containing submarine meltwater (up to 2.5 ± 0.12%), subglacial discharge (up to 6 ± 0.37%)
and large portions of entrained ocean waters are seen to exit the fjord and flow north. The exported meltwaters
form a buoyant coastal gravity current reaching to 100 m depth and extending 10 km offshore.
Description
© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Annals of Glaciology 58 (2017): 107-117, doi:10.1017/aog.2017.19.
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Annals of Glaciology 58 (2017): 107-117