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Exceptional 20th century glaciological regime of a major SE Greenland outlet glacier
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing Group, 2017, 7, pp.13626. ⟨10.1038/s41598-017-13246-x⟩, Scientific Reports, 2017, 7, pp.13626. ⟨10.1038/s41598-017-13246-x⟩, Andresen, C S, Kokfelt, U, Sicre, M-A, Knudsen, M F, Dyke, L M, Klein, V, Kaczmar, F, Miles, M W & Wangner, D 2017, ' Exceptional 20th century glaciological regime of a major SE Greenland outlet glacier ', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, 13626 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13246-x, Scientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2017.
-
Abstract
- The early 2000s accelerated ice-mass loss from large outlet glaciers in W and SE Greenland has been linked to warming of the subpolar North Atlantic. To investigate the uniqueness of this event, we extend the record of glacier and ocean changes back 1700 years by analyzing a sediment core from Sermilik Fjord near Helheim Glacier in SE Greenland. We show that multidecadal to centennial increases in alkenone-inferred Atlantic Water SSTs on the shelf occurred at times of reduced solar activity during the Little Ice Age, when the subpolar gyre weakened and shifted westward promoted by atmospheric blocking events. Helheim Glacier responded to many of these episodes with increased calving, but despite earlier multidecadal warming episodes matching the 20th century high SSTs in magnitude, the glacier behaved differently during the 20th century. We suggest the presence of a floating ice tongue since at least 300 AD lasting until 1900 AD followed by elevated 20th century glacier calving due to the loss of the tongue. We attribute this regime shift to 20th century unprecedented low sea-ice occurrence in the East Greenland Current and conclude that properties of this current are important for the stability of the present ice tongues in NE Greenland.
- Subjects :
- Cryospheric science
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
LAST 2000 YEARS
Science
ICE-SHEET
ATMOSPHERIC WEATHER REGIMES
Ice calving
Fjord
Palaeoclimate
010502 geochemistry & geophysics
01 natural sciences
Article
HELHEIM GLACIER
WEST GREENLAND
Glacier mass balance
Palaeoceanography
Ocean gyre
Regime shift
[SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology
14. Life underwater
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
SOUTHEAST GREENLAND
geography
Multidisciplinary
geography.geographical_feature_category
Tidewater glacier cycle
MASS-LOSS
Glacier
ATLANTIC SUBPOLAR GYRE
NORTH-ATLANTIC
EAST GREENLAND
Oceanography
[SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology
13. Climate action
Ice tongue
Medicine
Geology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 7
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....7812fb755a42ee0d76a4028a7ba10422