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Large-scale changes in Greenland outlet glacier dynamics triggered at the terminus

Nature Geoscience volume 2, pages 110–114 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The recent marked retreat, thinning and acceleration of most of Greenland’s outlet glaciers south of 70∘ N has increased concerns over Greenland’s contribution to future sea level rise1,2,3,4,5. These dynamic changes seem to be parallel to the warming trend in Greenland, but the mechanisms that link climate and ice dynamics are poorly understood, and current numerical models of ice sheets do not simulate these changes realistically6,7,8. Uncertainties in the predictions of mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet have therefore been highlighted as one of the main limitations in forecasting future sea levels9. Here we present a numerical ice-flow model that reproduces the observed marked changes in Helheim Glacier, one of Greenland’s largest outlet glaciers. Our simulation shows that the ice acceleration, thinning and retreat begin at the calving terminus and then propagate upstream through dynamic coupling along the glacier. We find that these changes are unlikely to be caused by basal lubrication through surface melt propagating to the glacier bed. We conclude that tidewater outlet glaciers adjust extremely rapidly to changing boundary conditions at the calving terminus. Our results imply that the recent rates of mass loss in Greenland’s outlet glaciers are transient and should not be extrapolated into the future.

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Figure 1: Observed and modelled surface elevation and velocity.
Figure 2: Response of the glacier terminus to different model perturbations.
Figure 3: Modelled response in ice flux.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) New-Investigators Grant NE/E001009/1. We are grateful for comments by M. Bentley and G. Leysinger Vieli, who helped to improve the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Faezeh M. Nick

    Present address: Present address: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland GEUS, Ostervolgade 10 DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK

    Faezeh M. Nick & Andreas Vieli

  2. School of Earth Sciences, Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University, 1090 Carmack Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1002, USA

    Ian M. Howat

  3. Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, Washington 98108, USA

    Ian Joughin

Authors
  1. Faezeh M. Nick
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  2. Andreas Vieli
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  3. Ian M. Howat
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  4. Ian Joughin
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Contributions

F.M.N. and A.V. contributed equally to this work and were responsible for the numerical modelling. I.M.H and I.J. provided the observational data for comparison. A.V. wrote the manuscript with substantial contribution from F.M.N., I.M.H and I.J.

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Correspondence to Faezeh M. Nick or Andreas Vieli.

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Nick, F., Vieli, A., Howat, I. et al. Large-scale changes in Greenland outlet glacier dynamics triggered at the terminus. Nature Geosci 2, 110–114 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo394

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