TY - JOUR
T1 - Observed sediment and solute transport from the Kangerlussuaq sector of the Greenland ice Sheet (2006-2016)
AU - Hasholt, Bent
AU - van As, Dirk
AU - Mikkelsen, Andreas B.
AU - Mernild, Sebastian H.
AU - Yde, Jacob C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Over the years, the Watson River discharge monitoring has been financed through various funding sources: the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland grants 07-015998, 09-064628 and 2138-08-0003, the Danish Natural Science Research Council grant 272-07-0645, the Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), the Greenland Analogue Project (GAP), and the Danish Energy Agency (ENS) through the WASEIS and PROMICE projects. We acknowledge local support by the Centre for Ice and Climate (CIC/NBI), CH2M HILL Polar Services (CPSpolar), Kangerlussuaq International Science Support (KISS), and the Greenland Survey (Asiaq).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 The authors. Published with license by Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - New measurements of Watson River sediment and solute concentrations and an extended river discharge record improved by acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measurements are used to calculate the total sediment and solute transport from a large ice-sheet sector in southern west Greenland. For the 2006–2016 period, the mean annual sediment and solute transport was 17.5 ± 7.2 × 10
6 t and 85 ± 30 × 10
3 t, respectively (standard deviation given). The highest annual transport occurred in 2010, attaining values of 29.6 × 10
6 t and 138 × 10
3 t, respectively. The corresponding annual average values of specific transport are 1.39 × 10
3 t km
−2 a
−1 for sediment and 6.7 t km
−2 a
−1 for solutes from the approximately 12,600 km
2 (95% ice covered) catchment, yielding an area-average erosion rate of 0.5 mm a
−1. The specific transport is likely several times higher under the ice sheet near the margin where all meltwater passes than it is in the interior where the ice sheet is frozen to the bed. We conclude that the Greenland Ice Sheet is a large supplier of sediment and solutes to the surrounding fjords and seas. We find that the proglacial area can be a net source of sediments during high floods and we confirm that an increased amount of meltwater-transported sediments can explain the expansion of deltas around Greenland, contradictory to delta erosion observed elsewhere in the Arctic in recent years.
AB - New measurements of Watson River sediment and solute concentrations and an extended river discharge record improved by acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measurements are used to calculate the total sediment and solute transport from a large ice-sheet sector in southern west Greenland. For the 2006–2016 period, the mean annual sediment and solute transport was 17.5 ± 7.2 × 10
6 t and 85 ± 30 × 10
3 t, respectively (standard deviation given). The highest annual transport occurred in 2010, attaining values of 29.6 × 10
6 t and 138 × 10
3 t, respectively. The corresponding annual average values of specific transport are 1.39 × 10
3 t km
−2 a
−1 for sediment and 6.7 t km
−2 a
−1 for solutes from the approximately 12,600 km
2 (95% ice covered) catchment, yielding an area-average erosion rate of 0.5 mm a
−1. The specific transport is likely several times higher under the ice sheet near the margin where all meltwater passes than it is in the interior where the ice sheet is frozen to the bed. We conclude that the Greenland Ice Sheet is a large supplier of sediment and solutes to the surrounding fjords and seas. We find that the proglacial area can be a net source of sediments during high floods and we confirm that an increased amount of meltwater-transported sediments can explain the expansion of deltas around Greenland, contradictory to delta erosion observed elsewhere in the Arctic in recent years.
KW - Glacial erosion
KW - Greenland Ice Sheet
KW - Kangerlussuaq
KW - sediment transport
KW - solute transport
KW - Watson River
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85055293026
U2 - 10.1080/15230430.2018.1433789
DO - 10.1080/15230430.2018.1433789
M3 - Article
VL - 50
JO - Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
JF - Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
IS - 1
M1 - e1433789
ER -