Crustal uplift due to ice mass variability on Upernavik Isstroem, west Greenland: T41B-2593

Research output: Contribution to conferencePosterResearch

  • Karina Nielsen
  • Shfaqat Abbas Khan
  • Niels Jákup Korsgaard
  • Kjær, Kurt H.
  • John M Wahr
  • Michael G Bevis
  • Leigh A Stearns
  • Lars H Timm
We estimate the mass loss rate of Upernavik Isstroem using surface elevation changes between a SPOT 5 Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from 2008 and NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) data from 2010. To assess the validity of our mass loss estimate, we analyze GPS data between 2007 and 2011 from two continuous receivers, UPVK and SRMP which are established on bedrock and located ~65 and ~2 km from the front of UI, respectively. We construct along-track elevation changes on UI for several time intervals during 2005 – 2011, based on ATM, SPOT 5 and Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) data to assess temporal changes of UI. We estimate a mass loss rate of -6.7 +/- 4.2 Gt/yr, over an area of ~1600 km^2. The ice mass loss occurs primarily over the northern glacier of UI. This pattern is also observed ~40 km upstream, where we observe glacier thinning at a rate of -1.6 +/- 0.3 m/yr across the northern portion of UI and -0.5 +/-0.1 m/yr across the southern portion. We obtain a difference of 0.6 mm/yr between the modeled and observed relative uplift rates at SRMP relative to UPVK, suggesting that the mass loss of UI is well captured in the model. We observe elevation changes from -15 to -40 m/yr near the front during the period 2005 – 2011, indicating that UI undergoes large variations in thinning pattern over short time spans.
Original languageEnglish
Publication dateDec 2012
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2012
EventAmerican Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2012 - San Francisco, United States
Duration: 3 Dec 20127 Dec 2012

Conference

ConferenceAmerican Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2012
CountryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period03/12/201207/12/2012

ID: 42016800