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SUMMARY:Modelling ice-ocean interaction at Greenland’s tidewater glacier
 s - Donald Slater (University of Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20160302T163000Z
DTEND:20160302T173000Z
UID:TALK64866@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Poul Christoffersen
DESCRIPTION:Observations of the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet ov
 er recent decades have shown significant losses at the coastal margins\, m
 uch of which has been attributed to the thinning\, speed-up and retreat of
  tidewater glaciers. The synchronous and widespread nature of these change
 s is indicative of a common climatic forcing\, and due to a roughly simult
 aneous subsurface warming of the ocean around Greenland\, the ocean is the
  leading candidate for driving the changes observed at marine-terminating 
 glaciers around Greenland. However the processes by which the ocean intera
 cts with these glaciers are poorly understood\, severely hampering efforts
  to project glacier behaviour into the future and ultimately to predict Gr
 eenland’s future contribution to sea level rise. Here\, we take an ocean
  modelling approach to exploring the processes by which the ocean interact
 s with tidewater glaciers.\nWe use both a simple theoretical model (buoyan
 t plume theory) and a complex numerical model (MITgcm) to explore controls
  on submarine melt rates at tidewater glaciers\, identifying fjord stratif
 ication\, subglacial discharge and subglacial hydrology as the key variabl
 es which determine the rate and pattern of submarine melting. Of the three
  variables\, subglacial hydrology is the least understood and we describe 
 a novel attempt to constrain subglacial hydrology at Kangiata Nunata Sermi
 a\, a large tidewater glacier in southwest Greenland. We finally consider 
 the effect of submarine melting on glacier dynamics by implementing a tide
 water glacier as a moving boundary within MITgcm. Results show melt underc
 utting of the calving front which may drive calving and glacier dynamics a
 t smaller tidewater glaciers. However at large tidewater glaciers this pro
 cess may not proceed sufficiently quickly to influence glacier dynamics\, 
 suggesting we need to consider other processes to explain the recent chang
 es observed at Greenland’s largest and fastest flowing tidewater glacier
 s.\n
LOCATION:Scott Polar Research Institute\, main lecture theatre
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