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Abstract
The processes controlling advance and retreat of outlet glaciers in fjords draining the Greenland Ice Sheet remain poorly known, undermining assessments of their dynamics and associated sea-level rise in a warming climate. Mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased six-fold over the last four decades, with discharge and melt from outlet glaciers comprising key components of this loss. Here we acquired oceanographic data and multibeam bathymetry in the previously uncharted Sherard Osborn Fjord in northwest Greenland where Ryder Glacier drains into the Arctic Ocean. Our data show that warmer subsurface water of Atlantic origin enters the fjord, but Ryder Glacier’s floating tongue at its present location is partly protected from the inflow by a bathymetric sill located in the innermost fjord. This reduces under-ice melting of the glacier, providing insight into Ryder Glacier’s dynamics and its vulnerability to inflow of Atlantic warmer water.
Publication Date
11-4-2020
Journal Title
Communications Earth & Environment
Publisher
Springer Nature
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
M. Jakobsson, Mayer, L. A., Nilsson, J., and Stranne, C., “Ryder Glacier in Northwest Greenland is Shielded from Warm Atlantic Water by a Bathymetric Sill”, Nature Communications Earth & Environment, vol. 45. Springer Nature, 2020.
Comments
This is an open access article published by Springer Nature in Communications Earth & Environment in 2020, available online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00043-0