Interaction Between the Warm Subsurface Atlantic Water in the Sermilik Fjord and Helheim Glacier in Southeast Greenland

Recent observations of ocean temperature in several Greenland fjords suggest that ocean warming can cause large changes in the outlet glaciers in these fjords. We have observed the Helheim outlet-glacier front in the Sermilik Fjord over the last three decades using satellite images, and the vertical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Surveys in geophysics Vol. 32; no. 4-5; pp. 387 - 396
Main Authors:	Johannessen, Ola M., Korablev, Alexander, Miles, Victoria, Miles, Martin W., Solberg, Knut E.
Format:	Journal Article Conference Proceeding
Language:	English
Published:	Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-09-2011 Springer Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Air temperature Astronomy Climate change Correlation analysis Correlations Cryosphere Earth and Environmental Science Earth Sciences Earth, ocean, space Exact sciences and technology Fjords Geophysics/Geodesy Glacier terminus Glaciers Ice Internal geophysics Marine Meltwater Meteorological measurements Meteorological stations Observations and Techniques Ocean temperature Ocean temperature variability Ocean warming Oceanographic data Percolation Sea level Sea level changes Subsurface water Surface temperature Time series analysis Water depth Water temperature Water temperatures polar regions Arctic region Greenland ANE, Irminger Sea ANE, Greenland, Oestgroenland AN, Greenland Greenland outlet glaciers Surface melting Ocean warming glaciers satellites salinity melting ice air subsurface variability fjords meltwater percolation depth correlation warming temperature
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Summary:	Recent observations of ocean temperature in several Greenland fjords suggest that ocean warming can cause large changes in the outlet glaciers in these fjords. We have observed the Helheim outlet-glacier front in the Sermilik Fjord over the last three decades using satellite images, and the vertical fjord temperature and salinity during three summer expeditions, 2008–2010. We show that the subsurface water below 250 m depth is the warm saline Atlantic Water from the Irminger Sea penetrating into the fjord and exposing the lower part of the Helheim glacier to warm water up to 4°C. Lagged correlation analysis spanning the 30-year time series, using the subsurface Atlantic Water temperature off the coast as a proxy for the variability of the subsurface warm Atlantic Water in the fjord, indicates that 24% of the Helheim ice-front movement can be accounted for by ocean temperature. A strong correlation (–0.75) between the ice-front position and the surface air temperature from a nearby meteorological station suggests that the higher air temperature causes melting and subsequent downward percolation of meltwater through crevasses leading to basal lubrication; the correlation accounts for 56% of the ice-front movement. The precise contribution of air temperature versus ocean temperature however, remains an open question, as more oceanographic and meteorological measurements are needed close to the glacier terminus.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0169-3298 1573-0956
DOI:	10.1007/s10712-011-9130-6