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

Shfaqat A. Khan (), Kurt H. Kjær, Michael Bevis, Jonathan L. Bamber, John Wahr, Kristian K. Kjeldsen, Anders A. Bjørk, Niels J. Korsgaard, Leigh A. Stearns, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Lin Liu, Nicolaj K. Larsen and Ioana S. Muresan
Additional contact information
Shfaqat A. Khan: DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark
Kurt H. Kjær: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Michael Bevis: Geodetic Science, Ohio State University
Jonathan L. Bamber: Bristol Glaciology Centre, University of Bristol
John Wahr: University of Colorado
Kristian K. Kjeldsen: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Anders A. Bjørk: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Niels J. Korsgaard: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Leigh A. Stearns: University of Kansas
Michiel R. van den Broeke: Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University
Lin Liu: Stanford University
Nicolaj K. Larsen: Aarhus University
Ioana S. Muresan: DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark

Nature Climate Change, 2014, vol. 4, issue 4, 292-299

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2161

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