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www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/5/461/2011/
doi:10.5194/tcd-5-461-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Record mass loss from Greenland's best-observed local glacier
1Climate, Ocean, and Sea Ice Modeling Group, Computational Physics and Methods, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
2Department of Geology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
3Climate, Ocean, and Sea Ice Modeling Group, Fluid Dynamics and Solid Mechanics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
4Center for Geomicrobiology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
5Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract. Warming in the Arctic during the past several decades has caused glaciers to thin and retreat, resulting in increased freshwater runoff to the ocean. Local glaciers peripheral to the ice sheet are also retreating, but few mass-balance observations are available to quantify that retreat and determine the extent to which these glaciers are out of equilibrium with present-day climate. Here, we document record mass loss in 2009/2010 for the Mittivakkat Glacier (henceforth MG), the only local glacier in Greenland for which there exist long-term observations of both the surface mass balance and glacier front fluctuations. We attribute this mass loss to record high mean summer (June–August) and higher-than-average winter (September–May) temperatures and to lower-than-average winter precipitation. Also, we use the 15-year mass-balance record to estimate present-day and equilibrium accumulation-area ratios for the MG. We show that the glacier is significantly out of balance and will likely lose approximately 70% of its current area and 80% of its volume even in the absence of further climate changes. Temperature records from coastal stations in Southeast Greenland suggest that recent MG mass losses are not merely a local phenomenon, but are indicative of glacier changes in the broader region. Mass-balance observations for the MG therefore provide unique documentation of the general retreat of Southeast Greenland's local glaciers under ongoing climate warming.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 7364 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 19 Comments) Final Revised Paper (TC)
Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Mernild, S. H., Knudsen, N. T., Lipscomb, W. H., Yde, J. C., Malmros, J. K., Jakobsen, B. H., and Hasholt, B.: Record mass loss from Greenland's best-observed local glacier, The Cryosphere Discuss., 5, 461-477, doi:10.5194/tcd-5-461-2011, 2011. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
