The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing

Observations suggest that during the last decades the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has experienced a gradually accelerating mass loss, in part due to the observed speed-up of several of Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers. Recent studies directly attribute this to warming North Atlantic tempe...

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Authors: Tabone, Ilaria, Blasco, Javier, Robinson, Alexander James, Álvarez Solas, Jorge, Montoya Redondo, María Luisa
Format: article
Publication Date:2018
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/12089
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/12089
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:52
Sea-level rise
Submarine melt rates
Mass-balance
East greenland
West greenland
Pine island
Subglacial discharge
Antarctic peninsula
Temperature-changes
Tidewater glaciers
Astrofísica
Astronomía (Física)
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spelling The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcingTabone, IlariaBlasco, JavierRobinson, Alexander JamesÁlvarez Solas, JorgeMontoya Redondo, María Luisa52Sea-level riseSubmarine melt ratesMass-balanceEast greenlandWest greenlandPine islandSubglacial dischargeAntarctic peninsulaTemperature-changesTidewater glaciersAstrofísicaAstronomía (Física)Observations suggest that during the last decades the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has experienced a gradually accelerating mass loss, in part due to the observed speed-up of several of Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers. Recent studies directly attribute this to warming North Atlantic temperatures, which have triggered melting of the outlet glaciers of the GrIS, grounding-line retreat and enhanced ice discharge into the ocean, contributing to an acceleration of sea-level rise. Reconstructions suggest that the influence of the ocean has been of primary importance in the past as well. This was the case not only in interglacial periods, when warmer climates led to a rapid retreat of the GrIS to land above sea level, but also in glacial periods, when the GrIS expanded as far as the continental shelf break and was thus more directly exposed to oceanic changes. However, the GrIS response to palaeo-oceanic variations has yet to be investigated in detail from a mechanistic modelling perspective. In this work, the evolution of the GrIS over the past two glacial cycles is studied using a three-dimensional hybrid ice-sheet-shelf model. We assess the effect of the variation of oceanic temperatures on the GrIS evolution on glacial-interglacial timescales through changes in submarine melting. The results show a very high sensitivity of the GrIS to changing oceanic conditions. Oceanic forcing is found to be a primary driver of GrIS expansion in glacial times and of retreat in interglacial periods. If switched off, palaeo-atmospheric variations alone are not able to yield a reliable glacial configuration of the GrIS. This work therefore suggests that considering the ocean as an active forcing should become standard practice in palaeo-ice-sheet modelling.Copernicus Gesellschaft MBHUniversidad Complutense de Madrid20182018-04-0920182018-04-09journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/12089reponame:Docta Complutenseinstname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Atribución 3.0 Españahttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/120892026-06-02T12:44:21Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
title The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
spellingShingle The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
Tabone, Ilaria
52
Sea-level rise
Submarine melt rates
Mass-balance
East greenland
West greenland
Pine island
Subglacial discharge
Antarctic peninsula
Temperature-changes
Tidewater glaciers
Astrofísica
Astronomía (Física)
title_short The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
title_full The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
title_fullStr The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
title_full_unstemmed The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
title_sort The sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to glacial-interglacial oceanic forcing
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Tabone, Ilaria
Blasco, Javier
Robinson, Alexander James
Álvarez Solas, Jorge
Montoya Redondo, María Luisa
author Tabone, Ilaria
author_facet Tabone, Ilaria
Blasco, Javier
Robinson, Alexander James
Álvarez Solas, Jorge
Montoya Redondo, María Luisa
author_role author
author2 Blasco, Javier
Robinson, Alexander James
Álvarez Solas, Jorge
Montoya Redondo, María Luisa
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad Complutense de Madrid
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv 52
Sea-level rise
Submarine melt rates
Mass-balance
East greenland
West greenland
Pine island
Subglacial discharge
Antarctic peninsula
Temperature-changes
Tidewater glaciers
Astrofísica
Astronomía (Física)
topic 52
Sea-level rise
Submarine melt rates
Mass-balance
East greenland
West greenland
Pine island
Subglacial discharge
Antarctic peninsula
Temperature-changes
Tidewater glaciers
Astrofísica
Astronomía (Física)
description Observations suggest that during the last decades the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has experienced a gradually accelerating mass loss, in part due to the observed speed-up of several of Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers. Recent studies directly attribute this to warming North Atlantic temperatures, which have triggered melting of the outlet glaciers of the GrIS, grounding-line retreat and enhanced ice discharge into the ocean, contributing to an acceleration of sea-level rise. Reconstructions suggest that the influence of the ocean has been of primary importance in the past as well. This was the case not only in interglacial periods, when warmer climates led to a rapid retreat of the GrIS to land above sea level, but also in glacial periods, when the GrIS expanded as far as the continental shelf break and was thus more directly exposed to oceanic changes. However, the GrIS response to palaeo-oceanic variations has yet to be investigated in detail from a mechanistic modelling perspective. In this work, the evolution of the GrIS over the past two glacial cycles is studied using a three-dimensional hybrid ice-sheet-shelf model. We assess the effect of the variation of oceanic temperatures on the GrIS evolution on glacial-interglacial timescales through changes in submarine melting. The results show a very high sensitivity of the GrIS to changing oceanic conditions. Oceanic forcing is found to be a primary driver of GrIS expansion in glacial times and of retreat in interglacial periods. If switched off, palaeo-atmospheric variations alone are not able to yield a reliable glacial configuration of the GrIS. This work therefore suggests that considering the ocean as an active forcing should become standard practice in palaeo-ice-sheet modelling.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
2018-04-09
2018
2018-04-09
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/12089
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/12089
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución 3.0 España
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución 3.0 España
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Copernicus Gesellschaft MBH
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Copernicus Gesellschaft MBH
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Docta Complutense
instname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
instname_str Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
reponame_str Docta Complutense
collection Docta Complutense
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,301629

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