Sensitivity, stability and future evolution of the world's northernmost ice cap, Hans Tausen Iskappe (Greenland)

Zekollari, Harry; Huybrechts, Philippe; Noël, Brice; Berg, Willem Jan van de; Broeke, M. R. van den

doi:10.5194/tc-11-805-2017

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 95 publications

(117 reference statements)

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“…This process is observed at icefields that are currently in the late stages of recession such as the Hazen Plateau ice caps on Ellesmere Island (Braun et al ., ). These topographically influenced changes in recession rate corroborate recent modelling results which suggest icefields respond non‐linearly to changes in climate (Åkesson et al ., ; Zekollari et al ., ). The potential for tipping points during plateau icefield recession is high, where recession rates of outlet glaciers may accelerate or slow down as topographic thresholds are crossed, for example as the outlet glacier recedes from the outlet valley to the plateau rim and then subsequently onto the plateau surface.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This research complements recent modelling on non‐linear recession of plateau icefields (Åkesson et al ., ; Zekollari et al ., ), recognizing the potential for recession of the Younger Dryas Monadhliath Icefield to have been characterized by threshold behaviour, leading to topographically controlled rather than climatically controlled stagnation in the later stages. Further work modelling the progression of deglaciation in plateau icefield settings is required to fully integrate topography and climate through time and explore potential topographically controlled tipping points in detail.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nesje et al, 2008;Giesen and Oerlemans, 2010). More recently, model simulations have investigated non-linear behaviour linked to hysteresis during icefield growth (Åkesson et al, 2017;Zekollari et al, 2017). However, there are currently few studies (but see Jiskoot et al, 2009) that investigate: (i) factors that influence differences in, and controls on, retreat patterns between outlet valleys, and (ii) how an icefield behaves during the final stages of recession once it is constrained to the plateau.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Improved understanding of these aspects of icefield recession is important for (i) improving modelled predictions of future icefield response to changes in climate as well as their contribution (rate and magnitude) to sea-level rise in coming decades; and (ii) unravelling the complex interplay between climatic, topographic, glaciological and other controls, including outlet glacier evolution during recession, which is crucial to accurately model the dynamics of ice-mass behaviour through time (cf. Oerlemans, 2008;Rowan, 2011;Åkesson et al, 2017;Zekollari et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Topographic controls on plateau icefield recession: insights from the Younger Dryas Monadhliath Icefield, Scotland

Boston

Lukas

2019

J Quaternary Science

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Plateau icefields are a common form of mountain ice mass, frequently found in mid‐latitude to high‐arctic regions and increasingly recognized in the Quaternary record. Their top‐heavy hypsometry makes them highly sensitive to changes in climate when the equilibriaum line altitude (ELA) lies above the plateau edge, allowing ice to expand significantly as regional ELAs decrease, and causing rapid recession as climate warms. With respect to future climate warming, it is important to understand the controls on plateau icefield response to climate change in order to better predict recession rates, with implications for water resources and sea‐level rise. Improving knowledge of the controls on glacier recession may also enable further palaeoclimatic information to be extracted from the Quaternary glacial record. We use the distribution of moraines to examine topographic controls on Younger Dryas icefield recession in Scotland. We find that overall valley morphology influences the style of recession, through microclimatic and geometric controls, with bed gradient affecting moraine spacing. Ice mass reconfiguration may occur as recession progresses because ice divide migration could alter the expected response based on hypsometric distribution. These results add to a growing body of research examining controls on glacier recession and offer a step towards unravelling non‐linear ice mass behaviour. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Topographic controls on plateau icefield recession: insights from the Younger Dryas Monadhliath Icefield, Scotland

Boston

Lukas

2019

J Quaternary Science

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“…Glacier retreat has a huge impact on regional ecosystems, and it contributes significantly to sea-level rise. The large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are losing mass (IPCC, 2013;Van den Broeke et al, 2016;Martín-Moreno et al, 2017), and glaciers have retreated far behind their Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum stands almost everywhere (Leclercq et al, 2014;Zemp et al, 2015). Even the large tidewater glaciers of the Arctic region have retreated over large distances (kilometres) during the past 100 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the late Holocene and future evolution of Monacobreen, northern Spitsbergen

Oerlemans

2018

The Cryosphere

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Monacobreen is a 40 km long surge-type tidewater glacier in northern Spitsbergen. During 1991During -1997 Monacobreen surged and advanced by about 2 km, but the front did not reach the maximum Little Ice Age (LIA) stand. Since 1997 the glacier front is retreating at a fast rate ( ∼ 125 m a −1 ). The questions addressed in this study are as follows: (1) Can the late Holocene behaviour of Monacobreen be understood in terms of climatic forcing?, and (2) What will be the likely evolution of this glacier for different scenarios of future climate change?Monacobreen is modelled with a minimal glacier model, including a parameterization of the calving process as well as the effect of surges. The model is driven by an equilibriumline altitude (ELA) history derived from lake sediments of a nearby glacier catchment in combination with meteorological data from 1899 onwards. The simulated glacier length is in good agreement with the observations: the maximum LIA stand, the front position at the end of the surge, and the 2.5 km retreat after the surge (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016) are well reproduced (the mean difference between observed and simulated glacier length being 6 % when scaled with the total retreat during 1900-2016). The effect of surging is limited. Directly after a surge the initiated mass balance perturbation due to a lower mean surface elevation is about −0.13 m w.e. a −1 , which only has a small effect on the longterm evolution of the glacier. The simulation suggests that the major growth of Monacobreen after the Holocene climatic optimum started around 1500 BCE. Monacobreen became a tidewater glacier around 500 BCE and reached a size comparable to the present state around 500 CE. For the mid-B2 scenario (IPCC, 2013), which corresponds to a ∼ 2 m a −1 rise of the ELA, the model predicts a volume loss of 20 % to 30 % by the year 2100 (relative to the 2017 volume). For a ∼ 4 m a −1 rise in the ELA this is 30 % to 40 %. However, much of the response to 21st century warming will still come after 2100.

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Topographic controls on ice flow and recession for Juneau Icefield (Alaska/British Columbia)

Davies

Bendle

Carrivick

et al. 2022

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Globally, mountain glaciers and ice caps are losing dramatic volumes of ice. The resultant sea‐level rise is dominated by contributions from Alaska. Plateau icefields may be especially sensitive to climate change due to the non‐linear controls their topography imparts on their response to climate change. However, Alaskan plateau icefields have been subject to little structural glaciological or regional geomorphological assessment, which makes the controls on their present and former mass balance difficult to ascertain. We inventoried 1050 glaciers and 368 lakes in the Juneau Icefield region for the year 2019. We found that 63 glaciers had disappeared since the 2005 inventory, with a reduction in glacier area of 422 km2 (10.0%). We also present the first structural glaciological and geomorphological map for an entire icefield in Alaska. Glaciological mapping of >20 800 features included crevasses, debris cover, foliation, ogives, medial moraines and, importantly, areas of glacier fragmentation, where glaciers either separated from tributaries via lateral recession (n = 59), or disconnected within areas of former icefalls (n = 281). Geomorphological mapping of >10 200 landforms included glacial moraines, glacial lakes, trimlines, flutes and cirques. These landforms were generated by a temperate icefield during the Little Ice Age (LIA) neoglaciation. These data demonstrate that the present‐day outlet glaciers, which have a similar thermal and ice‐flow regime, have undergone largely continuous recession since the LIA. Importantly, disconnections occurring within glaciers can separate accumulation and ablation zones, increasing rates of glacier mass loss. We show that glacier disconnections are widespread across the icefield and should be critically taken into consideration when icefield vulnerability to climate change is considered.

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Sensitivity, stability and future evolution of the world's northernmost ice cap, Hans Tausen Iskappe (Greenland)

Cited by 21 publications

References 95 publications

Topographic controls on plateau icefield recession: insights from the Younger Dryas Monadhliath Icefield, Scotland

Topographic controls on plateau icefield recession: insights from the Younger Dryas Monadhliath Icefield, Scotland

Modelling the late Holocene and future evolution of Monacobreen, northern Spitsbergen

Topographic controls on ice flow and recession for Juneau Icefield (Alaska/British Columbia)

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