Revised assessment of potential locations for export of meltwater from the glaciers in Greenland

The Greenland Ice Sheet contains 2.85 million cubic kilometres of glacier ice, with ancient parts dating back more than 100,000 years. River systems of variable size transport meltwater originating from the ice sheet and from local glaciers and ice caps to fjords and ocean. Here we map potential sites in Southwest Greenland that can be exploited for extraction of meltwater, expanding on the earlier analyses from Ahlstrøm et al. (2016) and Ahlstrøm et al. (2018).

Identification of the potential sites was performed using different Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing data and analysis. The final selection of potential sites is based on inspection and evaluation of all catchments larger than 20km², located in South-west Greenland, that intersect with glacial ice. Initial screening includes: 1) evaluation of extent of ice cover in the individual catchments, 2) fjord bathymetry, 3) river morphology near the river mouth including identification of large submerged deltas or river migration and erosion into extensive fluvial deposits, 4) logistical obstacles including assessment of bathymetrical shoals and shallow waters, 5) enclosed fjord systems with potential hazardous navigation, 6) proximity to large calving tidewater glaciers, and 7) occurrence of geochemical samples with values exceeding defined thresholds. This assessment yielded 58 individual sites suited for meltwater extraction.