Sustained mass loss of the northeast Greenland ice sheet triggered by regional warming

Shfaqat Abbas Khan; Kurt H. Kjær; Michael Bevis; Jonathan Bamber; John Wahr; Kristian Kjellerup Kjeldsen; Anders Anker Bjørk; Niels Jákup Korsgaard; Leigh A Stearns; Michiel R.  van den Broeke; Lin Liu; Nicolaj K. Larsen; Ioana S.  Muresan

doi:10.1038/nclimate2161

Sustained mass loss of the northeast Greenland ice sheet triggered by regional warming

Shfaqat Abbas Khan, Kurt H. Kjær, Michael Bevis, Jonathan Bamber, John Wahr, Kristian Kjellerup Kjeldsen, Anders Anker Bjørk, Niels Jákup Korsgaard, Leigh A Stearns, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Lin Liu, Nicolaj K. Larsen, Ioana S. Muresan

139 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Greenland ice sheet has been one of the largest contributors to global sea-level rise over the past 20 years, accounting for 0.5 mm yr−1 of a total of 3.2 mm yr−1. A significant portion of this contribution is associated with the speed-up of an increased number of glaciers in southeast and northwest Greenland. Here, we show that the northeast Greenland ice stream, which extends more than 600 km into the interior of the ice sheet, is now undergoing sustained dynamic thinning, linked to regional warming, after more than a quarter of a century of stability. This sector of the Greenland ice sheet is of particular interest, because the drainage basin area covers 16% of the ice sheet (twice that of Jakobshavn Isbræ) and numerical model predictions suggest no significant mass loss for this sector, leading to an under-estimation of future global sea-level rise. The geometry of the bedrock and monotonic trend in glacier speed-up and mass loss suggests that dynamic drawdown of ice in this region will continue in the near future.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Climate Change
Volume	4
Pages (from-to)	292-299
Number of pages	8
ISSN	1758-678X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2161
Publication status	Published - Apr 2014

Access to Document

10.1038/nclimate2161

Cite this

@article{7b5ce7d1074e4f5ea06fb915624043db,

title = "Sustained mass loss of the northeast Greenland ice sheet triggered by regional warming",

abstract = "The Greenland ice sheet has been one of the largest contributors to global sea-level rise over the past 20 years, accounting for 0.5 mm yr−1 of a total of 3.2 mm yr−1. A significant portion of this contribution is associated with the speed-up of an increased number of glaciers in southeast and northwest Greenland. Here, we show that the northeast Greenland ice stream, which extends more than 600 km into the interior of the ice sheet, is now undergoing sustained dynamic thinning, linked to regional warming, after more than a quarter of a century of stability. This sector of the Greenland ice sheet is of particular interest, because the drainage basin area covers 16% of the ice sheet (twice that of Jakobshavn Isbr{\ae}) and numerical model predictions suggest no significant mass loss for this sector, leading to an under-estimation of future global sea-level rise. The geometry of the bedrock and monotonic trend in glacier speed-up and mass loss suggests that dynamic drawdown of ice in this region will continue in the near future.",

author = "Khan, {Shfaqat Abbas} and Kj{\ae}r, {Kurt H.} and Michael Bevis and Jonathan Bamber and John Wahr and Kjeldsen, {Kristian Kjellerup} and Bj{\o}rk, {Anders Anker} and Korsgaard, {Niels J{\'a}kup} and Stearns, {Leigh A} and {van den Broeke}, {Michiel R.} and Lin Liu and Larsen, {Nicolaj K.} and Muresan, {Ioana S.}",

year = "2014",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1038/nclimate2161",

language = "English",

volume = "4",

pages = "292--299",

journal = "Nature Climate Change",

issn = "1758-678X",

publisher = "nature publishing group",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sustained mass loss of the northeast Greenland ice sheet triggered by regional warming

AU - Khan, Shfaqat Abbas

AU - Kjær, Kurt H.

AU - Bevis, Michael

AU - Bamber, Jonathan

AU - Wahr, John

AU - Kjeldsen, Kristian Kjellerup

AU - Bjørk, Anders Anker

AU - Korsgaard, Niels Jákup

AU - Stearns, Leigh A

AU - van den Broeke, Michiel R.

AU - Liu, Lin

AU - Larsen, Nicolaj K.

AU - Muresan, Ioana S.

PY - 2014/4

Y1 - 2014/4

N2 - The Greenland ice sheet has been one of the largest contributors to global sea-level rise over the past 20 years, accounting for 0.5 mm yr−1 of a total of 3.2 mm yr−1. A significant portion of this contribution is associated with the speed-up of an increased number of glaciers in southeast and northwest Greenland. Here, we show that the northeast Greenland ice stream, which extends more than 600 km into the interior of the ice sheet, is now undergoing sustained dynamic thinning, linked to regional warming, after more than a quarter of a century of stability. This sector of the Greenland ice sheet is of particular interest, because the drainage basin area covers 16% of the ice sheet (twice that of Jakobshavn Isbræ) and numerical model predictions suggest no significant mass loss for this sector, leading to an under-estimation of future global sea-level rise. The geometry of the bedrock and monotonic trend in glacier speed-up and mass loss suggests that dynamic drawdown of ice in this region will continue in the near future.

AB - The Greenland ice sheet has been one of the largest contributors to global sea-level rise over the past 20 years, accounting for 0.5 mm yr−1 of a total of 3.2 mm yr−1. A significant portion of this contribution is associated with the speed-up of an increased number of glaciers in southeast and northwest Greenland. Here, we show that the northeast Greenland ice stream, which extends more than 600 km into the interior of the ice sheet, is now undergoing sustained dynamic thinning, linked to regional warming, after more than a quarter of a century of stability. This sector of the Greenland ice sheet is of particular interest, because the drainage basin area covers 16% of the ice sheet (twice that of Jakobshavn Isbræ) and numerical model predictions suggest no significant mass loss for this sector, leading to an under-estimation of future global sea-level rise. The geometry of the bedrock and monotonic trend in glacier speed-up and mass loss suggests that dynamic drawdown of ice in this region will continue in the near future.

U2 - 10.1038/nclimate2161

DO - 10.1038/nclimate2161

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1758-678X

VL - 4

SP - 292

EP - 299

JO - Nature Climate Change

JF - Nature Climate Change

ER -