Glacier-surge mechanisms promoted by a hydro-thermodynamic feedback to summer melt

Cryosphere

Volumn 9, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 197-215

  Dunse, T ^a   Schellenberger, T ^a   Hagen, J O ^a   Kaab A ^a   Schuler, T V ^a   Reijmer, C H ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OSLO   (Norway)

^b UTRECHT UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GLACIER MASS BALANCE; GLOBAL WARMING; GPS; ICE SHEET; MELTING; POLAR REGION; SEA LEVEL CHANGE; SUMMER; THERMODYNAMICS;

ARCTIC; SVALBARD; SVALBARD AND JAN MAYEN;

EID: 84922523476     PISSN: 19940416     EISSN: 19940424     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5194/tc-9-197-2015     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. Alley, R. B.: In search of ice-stream sticky spots, J. Glaciol., 39, 447-454, 1993.
2. Alley, R. B., Fahnestock, M., and Joughin, I.: Climate Change. Understanding Glacier Flow in Changing Times, Science, 322, 1061-1062, doi:10.1126/science.1166366, 2008.
3. AMAP: Snow and Water and Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA): Climate Change and the Cryosphere, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), vol. xii, Oslo, Norway, 2011.
4. Bartholomew, I., Nienow, P., Mair, D., Hubbard, A., King, M. A., and Sole, A.: Seasonal evolution of subglacial drainage and acceleration in a Greenland outlet glacier, Nat. Geosci., 3, 408 -411, doi:10.1038/NGEO863, 2010.
5. Bartholomew, I., Nienow, P., Sole, A., Mair, D., Cowton, T., King, M., and Palmer, S.: Seasonal variations in Greenland Ice Sheet motion: Inland extent and behaviour at higher elevations, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 307, 271- 278, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.04.014, 2011.
6. Bond, G., Heinrich, H., Broecker, W., Labeyrie, L., McManus, J., Andrews, J., Huon, S., Jantschik, R., Clasen, S., Simet, C., Tedesco, K., Mieczyslawa, K., Bonani, G., and Ivy, S.: Evidence For Massive Dischar ges of Icebergs Into the North-atlantic Ocean During the Last Glacial Period, Nature, 360, 245-249, 1992.
7. Church, J. A., White, N. J., Konikow, L. F., Domingues, C. M., Cogley, J. G., Rignot, E., Gregory, J. M., van den Broeke, M. R., Monaghan, A. J., and Velicogna, I.: Revisiting the Earth's sealevel and energy budgets from 1961 to 2008, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L18601, doi:10.1029/2011GL048794, 2011.
8. Clarke, G.: Thermal regulation of glacier surging, J. Glaciol., 16, 231-250, 1976.
9. Clarke, G.: Fast glacier flow-ice streams and surging and and tidewater glaciers, J. Geophys. Res.-Solid, 92, 8835-8841, 1987.
10. Clarke, G., Collins, S., and Thompson, D.: Flow and thermal structure and and subglacial conditions of a surge-type glacier, Can. J. Earth Sci., 21, 232-240, 1984.
11. Clason, C. C., Mair, D. W. F., Nienow, P. W., Bartholomew, I. D., Sole, A., Palmer, S., and Schwanghart, W.: Modelling the transfer of supraglacial meltwater to the bed of Leverett Glacier, southwest Greenland, The Cryosphere Discuss., 8, 4243-4280, doi:10.5194/tcd-8-4243-2014, 2014.
12. Comiso, J. C.: Variability and trends in Antarctic surface temperatures from in situ and satellite infrared measurements, J. Climate, 13, 1674 -1696, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2000)0132.0.CO;2, 2000.
13. Cook, C. P., van de Flierdt, T., Williams, T., Hemming, S. R., Iwai, M., Kobayashi, M., Jimenez-Espejo, F. J., Escutia, C., Jairo Gon zalez, J., Khim, B.-K., McKay, R. M., Passchier, S., Bohaty, S. M., Riesselman, C. R., Tauxe, L., Sugisaki, S., Lopez Galindo, A., Patterson, M. O., Sangiorgi, F., Pierce, E. L., and Brinkhuis, H.: Dynamic behaviour of the East Antarcti c ice sheet during Pliocene warmth, Nat. Geosci., 6, 765- 769, doi:10.1038/NGEO1889, 2013.
14. Das, S. B., Joughin, I., Behn, M. D., Howat, I. M., King, M. A., Lizarralde, D., and Bhatia, M. P.: Fracture propagation to the base of the Greenland Ice Sheet during supraglacial lake drainage, Science, 320, 778-781, doi:10.1126/science.1153360, 2008.
15. den Ouden, M. A. G., Reijmer, C. H., Pohjola, V., van deWal, R. S. W., Oerlemans, J., and Boot, W.: Stand-alone single-frequency GPS ice velocity observations on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard, The Cryosphere, 4, 593 -604, doi:10.5194/tc-4-593-2010, 2010.
16. Deschamps, P., Durand, N., Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Camoin, G., Thomas, A. L., Henderson, G. M., Okuno, J., and Yokoyama, Y.: Ice-sheet collapse and sea-level rise at the Bolling warming 14 and 600 years ago, Nature, 483, 559- 564, doi:10.1038/nature10902, 2012.
17. Dowdeswell, J.: Drainage-basin characteristics of Nordaustlandet ice caps and Svalbard, J. Glaciol., 32, 31-38, 1986.
18. Dowdeswell, J., Drewry, D., Cooper, A., Gorman, M., Liestøl, O., and Orheim, O.: Digital mapping of the Nordaustlandet ice caps from airborne geophysical investigations, Ann. Glaciol., 8, 51-58, 1986.
19. Dowdeswell, J., Hamilton, G., and Hagen, J. O.: The duration of the active phase on surge-type glaciers: contrasts between Svalbard and other regions, J. Glaciol., 37, 388-400, 1991.
20. Dowdeswell, J., Hodgk ins, R., Nutall, A., Hagen, J. O., and Hamilton, G.: Mass-balance Change As A Control On the Frequency and Occurrence of Glacier Surges In Svalbard and Norwegian High Arctic, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 2909-2912, 1995.
21. Dowdeswell, J., Ottesen, D., Evans, J., Cofaigh, C., and Anderson, J.: Submarine glacial landforms and rates of ice-stream collapse, Geology, 36, 819-822, 2008.
22. Dowdeswell, J. A., Unwin, B., Nuttall, A. M., and Wingham, D. J.: Velocity structure and flow instability and mass flux on a large Arctic ice cap from satellite radar interferometry, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 167, 131-140, 1999.
23. Dunse, T., Schuler, T. V., Hagen, J. O., Eiken, T., Brandt, O., and Høgda, K.: Recent fluctuations in the extent of the firn area of Austfonna and Svalbard and inferred from GPR, Ann. Glaciol., 50, 155-162, doi :10.3189/172756409787769780, 2009.
24. Dunse, T., Greve, R., Schuler, T. V., and Hagen, J. O.: Permanent fast flow versus cyclic surge behaviour: numerical simulations of the Austfonna ice cap and Svalbard, J. Glaciol., 57, 247 -259, 2011.
25. Dunse, T., Schuler, T. V., Hagen, J. O., and Reijmer, C. H.: Seasonal speed-up of two outlet glaciers of Austfonna, Svalbard, inferred from continuous GPS measurements, The Cryosphere, 6, 453 -466, doi:10.5194/tc-6-453-2012, 2012.
26. Gardner A. S.,Moholdt G.,Wouters B.,Wolken G. J.,Burgess D. O.,Sharp M. J.,Cogley J. G.,Braun C.,Labine C., Sharply increased mass loss from glaciers and ice caps in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Nature, 473, 357-360,doi 10.1038/nature10089, 2011.
27. Gardner, A. S., Moholdt, G., Cogley, J. G., Wouters , B., Arendt, A. A., Wahr, J., Berthier, E., Hock, R., Pfeffer, W. T., Kaser, G., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Bolch, T., Sharp, M. J., Hagen, J. O., van den Broeke, M. R., and Paul, F.: A Reconciled Estimate of Gla cier Contributions to Sea Level Rise: 2003 to 2009, Science, 340, 852- 857, doi:10.1126/science.1234532, 2013.
28. Hamilton, G. S. and Dowdeswell, J. A.: Controls on glacier surging in Svalbard, J. Glaciol., 42, 157-168, 1996.
29. Hewitt, I.: Seasonal changes in ice sheet motion due to melt water lubrication, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 371- 372, 16- 25, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.04.022, 2013.
30. Iken, A. and Bindschadler, R.: Combined measurements of subglacial water-pressure and surface velocity of Findelengletscher and Switzerland-conclusions ab out drainage system and sliding mechanism, J. Glaciol., 32, 101-119, 1986.
31. IPCC: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, in: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmen tal Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., and Midgley, P. M., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, USA, 1535 pp ., doi:10.1017/CBO9781107415324, 2013.
32. Jiskoot, H., Murray, T., and Boyle, P.: Controls on the distribution of surge-type glaciers in Svalbard, J. Glaciol., 46, 412-422, 2000.
33. Joughin, I. and Alley, R. B.: Stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet in a warming world, Nat. Geosci., 4, 506- 513, doi:10.1038/NGEO1194, 2011.
34. Joughin, I., Smith, B. E., Shean, D. E., and Floricioiu, D.: Brief Communication: Further summer speedup of Jakobshavn Isbræ, The Cryosphere, 8, 209- 214, doi:10.5194/tc-8-209-2014, 2014.
35. Khan, S. A., Kjaer, K. H., Bevis, M., Bamber, J. L., Wahr, J., Kjeldsen, K. K., Bjork, A. A., Korsgaard, N. J., Stearns, L. A., van den Broeke, M. R., Liu, L., Larsen, N. K., and Muresan, I. S.: Sustained mass loss of the northeast Greenland ice sheet triggered by regional warming, Nat. Clim. Change, 4, 292 -299, doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE2161, 2014.
36. Lefauconnier, B. and Hagen, J. O.: Surging and Calving Glaciers in Eastern Svalbard, Norsk Polarinstitutt, Oslo, Norway, 1991.
37. Luckman, A., Murray, T., and Strozzi, T.: Surface flow evolution throughout a glacier surge measured by satellite radar interferometry, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 101-104, doi:10.1029/2001GL014570, 2002.
38. Meier, M. and Post, A.: What are glacier surges, Can. J. Earth Sci., 6, 807-817, 1969.
39. Meier, M. and Post, A.: Fast tidewater glaciers, J. Geophys. Res.-Solid, 92, 9051-9058, 1987.
40. Meierbachtol, T., Harper, J., and Humphrey, N.: Basal Drainage System Response to Increasing Surface Melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet, Science, 341, 777- 779, doi:10.1126/science.1235905, 2013.
41. Mengel, M. and Levermann, A.: Ice plug prevents irreversible discharge from East Antarctica, Nat. Clim. Change, 4, 451- 455, doi:10.1038/nclimate2226, 2014.
42. Moholdt, G. and Kääb, A.: A new D EM of the Austfonna ice cap by combining differential SAR interferometry with ICESat laser altimetry, Polar Res., 31, 18460, doi:10.3402/polar.v31i0.18460, 2012.
43. Moholdt, G., Hagen, J. O., Eiken, T., and Schuler, T. V.: Geometric changes and mass balance of the Austfonna ice cap, Svalbard, The Cryosphere, 4, 21-34, doi:10.5194/tc-4-21-2010, 2010a.
44. Moholdt, G., Nuth, C., Hagen, J. O., and Kohler, J.: Rece nt elevation changes of Svalbard glaciers derived from ICESat laser altimetry, Remote Sens. Environ., 114, 2756-2767, 2010b.
45. Moon, T., Joughin, I., Smith, B., van den Broeke, M. R., van de Berg,W. J., Noël, B., and Usher, M.: Distinct patterns of seasonal Greenland glacier velocity, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 7209- 7216, doi:10.1002/2014GL061836, 2014.
46. Mouginot, J., Rignot, E., and Scheuchl, B.: Sustained increase in ice discharge from the Amundsen Sea Embayment,West Antarctica, from 1973 to 2013, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 1576- 1584, doi:10.1002/2013GL059069, 2014.
47. Murray T.,Stuart G.,Miller P.Woodward J.,Smith A.,Porter P.,Jiskoot, H.:, Glacier surge propagation by thermal evolution at the bed, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 105, 13491-13507, 2000.
48. Murray, T., Luckman, A., Strozzi , T., and Nuttall, A. M.: The initiation of glacier surging at Fridtjovbreen and Svalbard, Ann. Glaciol., 36, 110-116, doi:10.3189/172756403781816275, 2003 a.
49. Murray, T., Strozzi, T., Luckman, A., Jiskoot, H., and Christakos, P.: Is there a single surge mechanism? Contrasts in dynamics between glacier surges in Svalbard and other regions, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 108, 2237, doi:10.1029/2002JB001906, 2003 b.
50. Nick, F., Vieli, A., Howat, I., and Joughin, I.: Large-scale changes in Greenland outlet glacier dynamics triggered at the terminus, Nat. Geosci., 2, 110-114, 2009.
51. Nick, F. M., Vieli, A., Anderse n, M. L., Joughin, I., Payne, A., Edwards, T. L., Pattyn, F., and van deWal, R. S.W.: Future sea-level rise from Greenland/'s main outlet glaciers in a warming climate, Nature, 497, 235 -238, doi:10.1038/nature12068 , 2013.
52. Pattyn, F.: Antarctic subglacial conditions inferred from a hybrid ice sheet/ice stream model, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 295, 451- 461, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.04.025, 2010.
53. Pfeffer, W. T.: A simple mechanism for irreversible tidewater glacier retreat, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 112, F03S25, doi:10.1029/2006JF000590, 2007.
54. Phillips, T., Rajaram, H., and Steffen, K.: Cryo-hydrologic war ming: A potential mechanism for rapid thermal response of ice sheets, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L20503, doi:10.1029/2010GL044397, 2010.
55. Phillips, T., Rajaram, H., Colgan,W., Steffen, K., and Abdalati,W.: Evaluation of cryo-hydrologic warming as an explanation for in-creased ice velocities in the wet snow zone and Sermeq Avannarleq and West Greenland, J. Geophys. Res.: Earth, 118, 1241 -1256, doi:10.1002/jgrf.20079, 2013.
56. Raymond, C.: How do glaciers surge-a review, J. Geophys. Res.-Solid, 92, 9121-9134, 1987.
57. Robin, G. D. Q.: Ice movement and temperature distribution in glaciers and ice sheets, J. Glaciol., 2, 589-606, 1955.
58. Robinson, P. and Dowdeswell, J.: Submarine landforms and the behavior of a surging ice cap since the last glacial maximum: The open-marine setting of eastern Austfonna and Svalbard, Mar. Geol., 286, 82- 94, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2011.06.004, 2011.
59. Schoof, C.: Ice-sheet acceleration driven by melt supply variability, Nature, 468, 803- 806, doi:10.1038/nature09618, 2010.
60. Schuler, T. V., Dunse, T., Ostby, T. I., and Hagen, J. O.: Meteorological conditions on an Arctic ice cap-8 years of automatic weather station data from Austfonna, Svalbard, Int. J. Climatol., 34, 2047 -2058, doi:10.1002/joc.3821, 2014.
61. Shannon, S. R., Payne, A. J., Bartholomew, I. D., van den Broeke, M. R., Edwards, T. L., Fettweis, X., Gagliardini, O., Gillet-Chaulet, F., Goelzer, H., Hoffman, M. J., Huybrechts, P., Mair, D. W. F., Nienow, P. W., Perego, M., Price, S. F., Smeets, C. J. P. P., Sole, A. J., van de Wal, R. S. W., and Zwinger, T.: Enhanced basal lubrication and the contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to future sea-level rise, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 110, 14156 -14161, doi:10.1073/pnas.1212647110, 2013.
62. Shepherd, A., Ivins, E. R., Geruo, A., Barletta, V. R., Bentley, M. J., Bettadpur, S., Briggs, K. H., Bromwich, D. H., Forsberg, R., Galin, N., Horwath, M., Jacobs, S., Joughin, I., King, M. A., Lenaerts, J. T. M., Li, J., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Luckman, A., Luthcke, S. B., McMillan, M., Meister, R., Milne, G., Mouginot, J., Muir, A., Nicolas, J. P., Paden, J., Payne, A. J., Pritchard, H., Rignot, E., Rott, H., Sorensen, L. S., Scambos, T. A., Scheuchl, B., Schrama, E. J. O., Smith, B., Sundal, A. V., van Angelen, J. H., van de Berg, W. J., van den Broeke, M. R., Vaughan, D. G., Velicogna, I.,Wahr, J., Whitehouse, P. L.,Wingham, D. J., Yi, D., Young, D., and Zwally, H. J.: A Reconciled Estimate of Ice-Sheet Mass Balance, Science, 338, 1183 -1189, doi:10.1126/science.1228102, 2012.
63. Solheim, A.: The d epositional environment of surging sub-polar tidewater glaciers: a case study of the morphology and sedimentation and sediment properties in a surgeaffected marine basin outside Nordaustlandet and the Northern Barents Sea, Skrifter-Norsk Polarinstitutt, O slo, Norway, 194, 5-97, 1991.
64. Strozzi, T., Luckman, A., Murray, T., Wegmüller, U., and Werner, C. L.: Glacier motion estimation using SAR offset-tracking procedures, IEEE T. Eosci. Remote, 40, 2384-2391, 2002.
65. Tedesco, M., Fettweis, X., Mote, T., Wahr, J., Alexander, P., Box, J. E., and Wouters, B.: Evidence and analysis of 2012 Greenland records from spaceborne observations, a regional clim ate model and reanalysis data, The Cryosphere, 7, 615- 630, doi:10.5194/tc-7-615-2013, 2013.
66. Tulaczyk, S., Kamb, W. B., and Engelhardt, H. F.: Basal mechanics of Ice Stream B and West Antarctica 2. Undrained plastic bed model, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea., 105, 483-494, 2000.
67. van der Veen, C.: Fundamentals of Glacier Dynamics, Taylor & Francis, the Netherlands, 472 pp., 1999.
68. Zagorodno v, V., Sinkevich, S., and Arkhipov, S.: Ice core expressanalysis for structure and thermal regime studies of Austfonna, Data of Glaciological Studies, 66, 149-158, 1989.
69. Zwally, H. J., Abdalati, W., Herring, T., Larson, K., Saba, J., and Steffen, K.: Surface melt-induced acceleration of Greenland icesheet flow, Science, 297, 218-222, 2002.