Closing Greenland's Mass Balance: Frontal Ablation of Every Greenlandic Glacier From 2000 to 2020

Kochtitzky, William; Copland, Luke; King, Michalea; Hugonnet, Romain; Jiskoot, Hester; Morlighem, Mathieu; Millan, Romain; Khan, Shfaqat Abbas; Noël, Brice

doi:10.1029/2023gl104095

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Closing Greenland's Mass Balance: Frontal Ablation of Every Greenlandic Glacier From 2000 to 2020

Kochtitzky, William; Copland, Luke; King, Michalea et al.

2023 • In Geophysical Research Letters, 50 (17)

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/306388

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10.1029/2023gl104095

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Keywords :

General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Geophysics

Abstract :

[en] In Greenland, 87% of the glacierized area terminates in the ocean, but mass lost at the ice‐ocean interface, or frontal ablation, has not yet been fully quantified. Using measurements and models we calculate frontal ablation of Greenland's 213 outlet and 537 peripheral glaciers and find a total frontal ablation of 481.8 ± 24.0 for 2000–2010 and 510.2 ± 18.6 Gt a−1 for 2010–2020. Ice discharge accounted for ∼90% of frontal ablation during both periods, while mass loss due to terminus retreat comprised the remainder. Only 16 glaciers were responsible for the majority (>50%) of frontal ablation from 2010 to 2020. These estimates, along with the climatic‐basal balance, allow for a more complete accounting of Greenland Ice Sheet and peripheral glacier mass balance. In total, Greenland accounted for ∼90% of Northern Hemisphere frontal ablation for 2000–2010 and 2010–2020.

Disciplines :

Earth sciences & physical geography

Author, co-author :

Kochtitzky, William ; Department of Geography Environment and Geomatics University of Ottawa Ottawa ON Canada ; School of Marine and Environmental Programs University of New England‐Biddeford Campus Biddeford ME USA

Copland, Luke ; Department of Geography Environment and Geomatics University of Ottawa Ottawa ON Canada

King, Michalea ; Applied Physics Laboratory University of Washington Seattle WA USA

Hugonnet, Romain ; LEGOS Université de Toulouse CNES CNRS IRD UPS Toulouse France ; Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) ETH Zürich Zürich Switzerland ; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) Birmensdorf Switzerland

Jiskoot, Hester ; Department of Geography & Environment University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB Canada

Morlighem, Mathieu ; Department of Earth Sciences Dartmouth College Hanover NH USA

Millan, Romain ; Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement CNES Grenoble France

Khan, Shfaqat Abbas ; DTU Space Technical University of Denmark Kongens Lyngby Denmark

Noël, Brice ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géographie > Climatologie et Topoclimatologie

Language :

English

Title :

Closing Greenland's Mass Balance: Frontal Ablation of Every Greenlandic Glacier From 2000 to 2020

Publication date :

07 September 2023

Journal title :

Geophysical Research Letters

ISSN :

0094-8276

eISSN :

1944-8007

Publisher :

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Volume :

Issue :

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2023GL104095

Funders :

NSERC - Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council [CA]
University of Ottawa [CA]

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since 11 September 2023

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