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Luckman A, Benn DI, Cottier F, et al. Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature. Nat Commun. 2015;6:8566doi: 10.1038/ncomms9566.
Luckman, A., Benn, D. I., Cottier, F., Bevan, S., Nilsen, F., & Inall, M. (2015). Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature. Nature communications, 68566. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566
Luckman, Adrian, et al. "Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature." Nature communications vol. 6 (2015): 8566. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9566
Luckman A, Benn DI, Cottier F, Bevan S, Nilsen F, Inall M. Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature. Nat Commun. 2015 Oct 09;6:8566. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9566. PMID: 26450063; PMCID: PMC4633826.
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Nat Commun. 2015 Oct 09;6:8566. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9566.

Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature.

Nature communications

Adrian Luckman, Douglas I Benn, Finlo Cottier, Suzanne Bevan, Frank Nilsen, Mark Inall

Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, College of Science, Swansea University, SA2 8PP, UK.
  2. Department of Arctic Geophysics, University Centre in Svalbard, Po Box 156, 9171 Longyearbyen, Norway.
  3. Department of Arctic Geology, University Centre in Svalbard, Po Box 156, 9171 Longyearbyen, Norway.
  4. Department of Geography, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AJ, UK.
  5. Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban PA37 1QA, UK.
  6. Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Po Box 6050 Langnes 9037 Tromsø, Norway.
  7. The Geophysical Institute, University of Postboks 7803 5020 Bergen, Norway.

PMID: 26450063 PMCID: PMC4633826 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9566

Abstract

Rates of ice mass loss at the calving margins of tidewater glaciers (frontal ablation rates) are a key uncertainty in sea level rise projections. Measurements are difficult because mass lost is replaced by ice flow at variable rates, and frontal ablation incorporates sub-aerial calving, and submarine melt and calving. Here we derive frontal ablation rates for three dynamically contrasting glaciers in Svalbard from an unusually dense series of satellite images. We combine ocean data, ice-front position and terminus velocity to investigate controls on frontal ablation. We find that frontal ablation is not dependent on ice dynamics, nor reduced by glacier surface freeze-up, but varies strongly with sub-surface water temperature. We conclude that calving proceeds by melt undercutting and ice-front collapse, a process that may dominate frontal ablation where submarine melt can outpace ice flow. Our findings illustrate the potential for deriving simple models of tidewater glacier response to oceanographic forcing.

References

  1. Science. 2008 Nov 28;322(5906):1344 - PubMed
  2. Geophys Res Lett. 2014 Oct 28;41(20):7209-7216 - PubMed

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