Deltas, freshwater discharge, and waves along the Young Sound, NE Greenland

TY - JOUR

T1 - Deltas, freshwater discharge, and waves along the Young Sound, NE Greenland

AU - Kroon, Aart

AU - Abermann, Jakob

AU - Bendixen, Mette

AU - Lund, Magnus

AU - Sigsgaard, Charlotte

AU - Skov, Kirstine

AU - Hansen, Birger Ulf

N1 - CENPERMOA[2017]

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - A wide range of delta morphologies occurs along the fringes of the Young Sound in Northeast Greenland due to spatial heterogeneity of delta regimes. In general, the delta regime is related to catchment and basin characteristics (geology, topography, drainage pattern, sediment availability, and bathymetry), fluvial discharges and associated sediment load, and processes by waves and currents. Main factors steering the Arctic fluvial discharges into the Young Sound are the snow and ice melt and precipitation in the catchment, and extreme events like glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Waves are subordinate and only rework fringes of the delta plain forming sandy bars if the exposure and fetch are optimal. Spatial gradients and variability in driving forces (snow and precipitation) and catchment characteristics (amount of glacier coverage, sediment characteristics) as well as the strong and local influence of GLOFs in a specific catchment impede a simple upscaling of sediment fluxes from individual catchments toward a total sediment flux into the Young Sound.

AB - A wide range of delta morphologies occurs along the fringes of the Young Sound in Northeast Greenland due to spatial heterogeneity of delta regimes. In general, the delta regime is related to catchment and basin characteristics (geology, topography, drainage pattern, sediment availability, and bathymetry), fluvial discharges and associated sediment load, and processes by waves and currents. Main factors steering the Arctic fluvial discharges into the Young Sound are the snow and ice melt and precipitation in the catchment, and extreme events like glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Waves are subordinate and only rework fringes of the delta plain forming sandy bars if the exposure and fetch are optimal. Spatial gradients and variability in driving forces (snow and precipitation) and catchment characteristics (amount of glacier coverage, sediment characteristics) as well as the strong and local influence of GLOFs in a specific catchment impede a simple upscaling of sediment fluxes from individual catchments toward a total sediment flux into the Young Sound.

KW - Arctic catchments

KW - Climatic drivers

KW - Delta morphology

KW - Delta regime

KW - Fluvial discharges

U2 - 10.1007/s13280-016-0869-3

DO - 10.1007/s13280-016-0869-3

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28116682

AN - SCOPUS:85010441687

SN - 0044-7447

VL - 46

SP - 132

EP - 145

JO - Ambio

JF - Ambio

IS - Suppl. 1

ER -