Slater, D.A., Nienow, P.W., Cowton, T.R. et al. (2 more authors) (2015) Effect of near-terminus subglacial hydrology on tidewater glacier submarine melt rates. Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (8). pp. 2861-2868. ISSN 0094-8276
Abstract
Submarine melting of Greenlandic tidewater glacier termini is proposed as a possiblemechanism driving their recent thinning and retreat. We use a general circulation model, MITgcm, tosimulate water circulation driven by subglacial discharge at the terminus of an idealized tidewater glacier.We vary the spatial distribution of subglacial discharge emerging at the grounding line of the glacier andexamine the effect on submarine melt volume and distribution. We find that subglacial hydrology exerts animportant control on submarine melting; under certain conditions a distributed system can induce a factor5 more melt than a channelized system, with plumes from a single channel inducing melt over only alocalized area. Subglacial hydrology also controls the spatial distribution of melt, which has the potential tocontrol terminus morphology and calving style. Our results highlight the need to constrain near-terminussubglacial hydrology at tidewater glaciers if we are to represent ocean forcing accurately.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2015. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Geography (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL NE/K014609/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 07 Jul 2017 09:54 |
Last Modified: | 07 Jul 2017 09:54 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062494 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/2014GL062494 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:118095 |
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