TY - JOUR
T1 - Tidewater glacier fluctuations in central East Greenland coastal and fjord regions (1980s-2005)
AU - Jiskoot, Hester
AU - Juhlin, Dan
AU - St. Pierre, Heather
AU - Citterio, Michele
PY - 2012/11
Y1 - 2012/11
N2 - Summer 2000/01 ASTER and Landsat 7 scenes and semi-automated digitization were used to compile a glacier inventory for local glaciers of the Geikie Plateau region, central East Greenland. Of the 332 glaciers (41 591km2), 120 are tidewater-terminating and drain 90% of the glacierized area. Differencing the 2000/01 tidewater margins from the 1980s GEUS map database ice polygons (113 glaciers) and from 2004/05 ASTER tidewater margins (78 glaciers) shows a cumulative tidewater terminus width decrease from 196km to 183km between the 1980s and 2000s, with a corresponding areal loss of -31 km2and an effective length change of -14.3 km. Between 2000/01 and 2004/05, areal loss was 26 km2. Average margin retreat rate increased two- to threefold, from 1.7-2.1km2 a-1 (1980s- 2000) to 3.9-5.7km2 a-1 (2000-05). Advances are negligible, apart from two surges, of which one was previously undetected. Coastal, 'outer' fjord-terminating, glaciers have two to three times larger areal and effective length retreat rates than 'inner' fjord-terminating glaciers. We investigate possible causes and hypothesize that, in addition to ocean temperature and sea ice, changes in sea fog may affect coastal-terminating more than inner fjord-terminating glaciers.
AB - Summer 2000/01 ASTER and Landsat 7 scenes and semi-automated digitization were used to compile a glacier inventory for local glaciers of the Geikie Plateau region, central East Greenland. Of the 332 glaciers (41 591km2), 120 are tidewater-terminating and drain 90% of the glacierized area. Differencing the 2000/01 tidewater margins from the 1980s GEUS map database ice polygons (113 glaciers) and from 2004/05 ASTER tidewater margins (78 glaciers) shows a cumulative tidewater terminus width decrease from 196km to 183km between the 1980s and 2000s, with a corresponding areal loss of -31 km2and an effective length change of -14.3 km. Between 2000/01 and 2004/05, areal loss was 26 km2. Average margin retreat rate increased two- to threefold, from 1.7-2.1km2 a-1 (1980s- 2000) to 3.9-5.7km2 a-1 (2000-05). Advances are negligible, apart from two surges, of which one was previously undetected. Coastal, 'outer' fjord-terminating, glaciers have two to three times larger areal and effective length retreat rates than 'inner' fjord-terminating glaciers. We investigate possible causes and hypothesize that, in addition to ocean temperature and sea ice, changes in sea fog may affect coastal-terminating more than inner fjord-terminating glaciers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860689117&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3189/2012AoG60A030
DO - 10.3189/2012AoG60A030
M3 - Article
SN - 0260-3055
VL - 53
SP - 35
EP - 44
JO - Annals of Glaciology
JF - Annals of Glaciology
IS - 60
ER -