HR: 17:00h
AN: U24D-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Constraining the Response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Climate Change During the Past 150 Years Using Measurements of Sea-Level Change
AU: * Milne, G
EM: g.a.milne@durham.ac.uk
AF: Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3QE, United Kingdom
AU: Long, A
EM: a.j.long@durham.ac.uk
AF: Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3QE, United Kingdom
AU: Simpson, M
EM: m.j.r.simpson@durham.ac.uk
AF: Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3QE, United Kingdom
AU: Wake, L
EM: l.m.wake@durham.ac.uk
AF: Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3QE, United Kingdom
AU: Woodroffe, S
EM: s.a.woodroffe@durham.ac.uk
AF: Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3QE, United Kingdom
AU: Huybrechts, P
EM: phuybrec@vub.ac.be
AF: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
AU: Roberts, D
EM: d.h.roberts@durham.ac.uk
AF: Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3QE, United Kingdom
AB: In-situ and geodetic observations of the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) during the past ~5 years have indicated that dramatic changes in some outlet glacier flow velocities and ice mass have occurred. It has been suggested that these changes mark the beginning of a significant long term response of the ice sheet to recent climate warming. It is clearly important to determine if these changes are unique within the past ~150 year history of the ice sheet, during which time it has been subjected to significant climate variation. In particular, it is known that there was a marked and extended climate warming in the 1920s and 30s. There are very few direct observations of the ice sheet in the first half of the 20th century and so it is not possible to estimate ice volume changes over extended areas. We shall present a novel method, based on the observation of sea-level changes over century to decadal time scales, that can provide unique information on mass changes of the GIS during the past ~150 years. Preliminary modelling results for sea-level data obtained from south west Greenland will be presented.
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE
DE: 1621 Cryospheric change (0776)
DE: 1641 Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556)
DE: 1645 Solid Earth (1225)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting