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| Titel |
Satellite investigations of ice dynamics at the north-east margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
| VerfasserIn |
K. Briggs, A. Shepherd, P. Nienow |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250020850
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Recent IPCC projections of the sea-level contribution due to the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS)
fail to account for potential ice mass losses through dynamic thinning. This is due to our
limited understanding of the critical processes controlling ice motion, despite the fact that
unsteady ice dynamics represent approximately two thirds of the mass lost from Greenland
today (Rignot and Kanagaratnam, 2006). The aim of this work is to improve our
understanding of the processes controlling dynamics of the GrIS. This is achieved by
determining seasonal variations in ice velocity at land- and marine-terminating outlet
glaciers using satellite interferometric and feature-tracked synthetic aperture radar
observations. Results from an area of Northeast Greenland are reported here. The
study area is centred at 74˚ N 24˚ W and covers a ~ 20,000 km2 region of ice at
the ice sheet margin. Within this area there are 14 principal glaciers, 7 of which
are marine terminating and 7 land terminating. Early results from interferometry
indicate that glacier flow velocities exhibit seasonality in this region of the GrIS.
This is exemplified at Walterhausen glacier (74.10˚ N 25˚ W) where between
September 1995 (late summer) and March 1996 (late winter) the glacier velocity slowed,
on average, by almost 30% in the first 35km from the terminus. This pattern is
representative of variations at other glaciers throughout this region of the GrIS. |
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