Ocean forcing drives glacier retreat in Greenland
Wood, M.; Rignot, E.; Fenty, I.; An, L.; Bjørk, A.; Van den Broeke, M.; Cai, C.; Kane, E.; Menemenlis, D.; Millan, R.; Morlighem, M.; Mouginot, J.; Noël, B.; Scheuchl, B.; Velicogna, I.; Willis, J.K.; Zhang, H. (2021). Ocean forcing drives glacier retreat in Greenland. Science Advances 7(1): eaba7282. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba7282
In: Science Advances. AAAS: New York. ISSN 2375-2548; e-ISSN 2375-2548, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Wood, M.
- Rignot, E.
- Fenty, I.
- An, L.
- Bjørk, A.
- Van den Broeke, M.
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- Cai, C.
- Kane, E.
- Menemenlis, D.
- Millan, R.
- Morlighem, M.
- Mouginot, J.
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- Noël, B.
- Scheuchl, B.
- Velicogna, I.
- Willis, J.K.
- Zhang, H.
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| Abstract |
The retreat and acceleration of Greenland glaciers since the mid-1990s have been attributed to the enhanced intrusion of warm Atlantic Waters (AW) into fjords, but this assertion has not been quantitatively tested on a Greenland-wide basis or included in models. Here, we investigate how AW influenced retreat at 226 marine-terminating glaciers using ocean modeling, remote sensing, and in situ observations. We identify 74 glaciers in deep fjords with AW controlling 49% of the mass loss that retreated when warming increased undercutting by 48%. Conversely, 27 glaciers calving on shallow ridges and 24 in cold, shallow waters retreated little, contributing 15% of the loss, while 10 glaciers retreated substantially following the collapse of several ice shelves. The retreat mechanisms remain undiagnosed at 87 glaciers without ocean and bathymetry data, which controlled 19% of the loss. Ice sheet projections that exclude ocean-induced undercutting may underestimate mass loss by at least a factor of 2. |
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