Estimating Ice Discharge at Greenland's Three Largest Outlet Glaciers Using Local Bedrock Uplift

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterResearchpeer-review

  • Karina Hansen
  • Martin Truffer
  • Andy Aschwanden
  • Kenneth Mankoff
  • Michael Bevis
  • Angelika Humbert
  • Michiel R. van den Broeke
  • Brice Noël
  • Bjørk, Anders Anker
  • William Colgan
  • Kjær, Kurt H.
  • Surendra Adhikari
  • Valentina Barletta
  • Shfaqat A. Khan

We present a novel method to estimate dynamic ice loss of Greenland's three largest outlet glaciers: Jakobshavn Isbræ, Kangerlussuaq Glacier, and Helheim Glacier. We use Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations attached to bedrock to measure elastic displacements of the solid Earth caused by dynamic thinning near the glacier terminus. When we compare our results with discharge, we find a time lag between glacier speedup/slowdown and onset of dynamic thinning/thickening. Our results show that dynamic thinning/thickening on Jakobshavn Isbræ occurs 0.87 ± 0.07 years before speedup/slowdown. This implies that using GNSS time series we are able to predict speedup/slowdown of Jakobshavn Isbræ by up to 10.4 months. For Kangerlussuaq Glacier the lag between thinning/thickening and speedup/slowdown is 0.37 ± 0.17 years (4.4 months). Our methodology and results could be important for studies that attempt to model and understand mechanisms controlling short-term dynamic fluctuations of outlet glaciers in Greenland.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2021GL094252
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume48
Issue number14
Number of pages10
ISSN0094-8276
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. The Authors.

    Research areas

  • glaciers, Greenland, ice discharge, ice loss, land uplift, surface mass balance

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