HR: 15:10h
AN: C13A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Changes in Greenland Outlet Glacier Systems Synchronous With Increasing Summer Sea Surface Temperatures Over the Past Decade
AU: * Fahnestock, M
EM: mark.fahnestock@unh.edu
AF: CSRC/EOS, University of New Hampshire, 236A Morse Hall University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States
AU: Milliman, T
EM: thomas.milliman@unh.edu
AF: CSRC/EOS, University of New Hampshire, 236A Morse Hall University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States
AU: Truffer, M
EM: truffer@gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophisical Institute, University of Alaska, 903 Koyukuk Dr, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320, United States
AU: Joughin, I
EM: ian@apl.washington.edu
AF: PSC/APL, University of Washington, 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105-6698, United States
AU: Motyka, R
EM: jfrjm@uas.alaska.edu
AF: Geophisical Institute, University of Alaska, 903 Koyukuk Dr, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320, United States
AU: Amundson, J
EM: amundson@gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophisical Institute, University of Alaska, 903 Koyukuk Dr, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320, United States
AB: Analysis of satellite-derived (AVHRR and MODIS) sea surface temperature (SST) time series around Greenland show large-scale patterns of increase that are synchronous with changes in glacier termini and flow speed. In particular, the warming of summer SST in the last half of the 1990s is observed in the south of Greenland and in Disko Bay, coincident with the patterns of glacier acceleration (Rignot and Kanagaratnam. Science 2006) and, in Disko Bay, with the initial changes observed in the configuration and flow of Jakobshavns Isbrae (Joughin et al., Nature, 2004, and Luckman and Murray, GRL, 2005). The warming is observed to spread to the north along both coasts of Greenland, and be particularly pronounced on the NW coast during the first half of the present decade, also matching the patterns of glacier acceleration reported by Rignot and Kanagaratnam and others. Local reports from Disko Bay, and sea ice extent maps from satellite imagery, indicate that winter freezing of the coastal ocean has shown a dramatic decrease over the interval of change, and open water is much more common. Local changes in SST appear to coincide with changes in outlet glacier systems on a nearly annual basis, suggesting that the connection between ocean and inland ice is quite responsive to changes, whether warming or cooling. In a number of areas, maximum summer sea surface temperatures, as measured by satellite thermal IR data, have increased by four degrees C over the last 15 years, representing a significant change in the melting potential of near surface waters.
DE: 0720 Glaciers
DE: 0726 Ice sheets
DE: 0776 Glaciology (1621, 1827, 1863)
DE: 1621 Cryospheric change (0776)
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting