Journal
JOURNAL OF GLACIOLOGY
Volume 63, Issue 237, Pages 1-16Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/jog.2016.103
Keywords
cryo-hydrologic warming; Greenland ice sheet; ice dynamics; ice-sheet modelling; polar firn
Funding
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship [DGE-0718124]
- CReSIS [NSF ANT-0424589]
- Polar Program of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
- Netherlands Earth System Science Center (NESSC)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Surface meltwater can refreeze within firn layers and crevasses to warm ice through laten-theat transfer on decadal to millennial timescales. Earlier work posited that the consequent softening of the ice might accelerate ice flow, potentially increasing ice-sheet mass loss. Here, we calculate the effect of meltwater refreezing on ice temperature and softness in the P (a) over cap ktsoq (near Swiss Camp) and Jakobshavn Isbr ae regions of western Greenland using a numeric model and existing borehole measurements. We show that in the Jakobshavn catchment, meltwater percolation within the firn warms the ice at depth by 3-5 degrees C. By contrast, meltwater refreezing in crevasses (cryo-hydrologic warming) at depths of similar to 300 m warms the ice in P (a) over cap kitsoq by up to 10 degrees C, but this causes minimal increase in ice motion (< 10 ma(-1)). P<(a)over cap>kitsoq is representative of western Greenland's land-terminating ice, where the slow movement of ice through a wide ablation zone provides ideal conditions for cryo-hydrologic warming to occur. We find that only similar to 37% of the western Greenland ice flux, however, travels through such areas. Overall, our findings suggest that cryo-hydrologic warming will likely have only a limited effect on the dynamic evolution of the Greenland ice sheet.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available