Daiki Sakakibara

Ice-front variations and speed changes of calving glaciers in the Southern Patagonia Icefield from 1984 to 2011

Patagonian icefields are losing volume, and their loss is due partly to rapid changes in their outlet glaciers that terminate in lakes or the ocean. Despite this key influence from outlet glaciers, relatively few of these calving glaciers have had high-frequency measurements on their frontal variations and ice speed changes. We describe here recent frontal variations and ice speed changes of all 28 major calving glaciers in the Southern Patagonia Icefield (SPI), including ice speed maps covering approximately half of the entire icefield. The analysis is based on satellite data from 1984 to 2011. Over this period, only the two termini of Glaciar Pio XI advanced. Of the remaining glacial fronts, 12 changed less than ±0.5 km, but 17 retreated at least 0.5 km. In the latter group, three glacial fronts (Glaciar Jorge Montt, HPS12, and Upsala) retreated over 6 km. Averaged over all 31 glacial fronts of the calving glaciers, the front positions retreated 1.56 km (median is 0.71 km). Along the flowline within 20 km of the front, the ice speeds up to 5900 ± 200 m a−1. Except for regions showing large acceleration or deceleration, the mean speed over the measured area decreased by 30 m a−1 from 1984 to 2011. The three most rapidly retreating glaciers showed much larger acceleration near the calving front, suggesting that ice dynamics drive their rapid retreat. Thus, we see retreat as a long-term trend for the calving glaciers in the SPI, with behavior that implies a dynamically controlled rapid recession that may explain the recently reported volume change of the SPI.

Rapid retreat, acceleration and thinning of Glaciar Upsala, Southern Patagonia Icefield, initiated in 2008

Abstract The Patagonia Icefields are characterized by a large number of outlet glaciers calving into lakes and the ocean. In contrast to the recent intensive research activities on tidewater glaciers in other regions, very few observations have been made on calving glaciers in Patagonia. We analysed satellite images of Glaciar Upsala, the third largest freshwater calving glacier in the Southern Patagonia Icefield, to investigate changes in its front position, ice velocity and surface elevation from 2000 to 2011. Our analyses revealed a clear transition from a relatively stable phase to a rapidly retreating and fast-flowing condition in 2008. The glacier front receded by 2.9 km, and the ice velocity increased by 20–50%, over the 2008–11 period. We also found that the ice surface lowered at a rate of up to 39 m a−1 from 2006 to 2010. This magnitude and the rate of changes in the glacier front position, ice velocity and surface elevation are greater than previously reported for Glaciar Upsala, and comparable to recent observations of large tidewater glaciers in Greenland. Our data illustrate details of a rapidly retreating calving glacier in Patagonia that have been scarcely reported despite their importance to the mass budget of the Patagonia Icefields.

Initial field observations on Qaanaaq ice cap, northwestern Greenland

Abstract To study the glaciological processes controlling the mass budget of Greenland’s peripheral glaciers and ice caps, field measurements were carried out on Qaanaaq ice cap, a 20 km long ice cap in northwestern Greenland. In the summer of 2012, we measured surface melt rate, ice flow velocity and ice thickness along a survey route spanning the ice margin (200m a.s.l.) to the ice-cap summit (1110m a.s.l.). Melt rates in the ablation area were clearly influenced by dark materials covering the ice surface, where degree-day factors varied from 5.44 mm w.e. K–1 d–1 on a clean surface to 8.26 mm w.e. K–1 d–1 in the dark regions. Ice velocity showed diurnal variations, indicating the presence of surface-meltwater induced basal sliding. Mean ice thickness along the survey route was 120 m, with a maximum thickness of 165 m. Ice velocity and temperature fields were computed using a thermomechanically coupled numerical glacier model. Modelled ice temperature, obtained by imposing estimated annual mean air temperature as the surface boundary condition, was substantially lower than implied by the observed ice velocity. This result suggests that the ice dynamics and thermodynamics of the ice cap are significantly influenced by heat transfer from meltwater and changing ice geometry.

Contrasting glacier variations of Glaciar Perito Moreno and Glaciar Ameghino, Southern Patagonia Icefield

Abstract Glaciar Perito Moreno (GPM) and Glaciar Ameghino (GA), Southern Patagonia Icefield, are in contact in the accumulation area, but have shown contrasting frontal variations in the past few decades. To investigate recent changes of the two glaciers and processes controlling the different responses to similar climate conditions, we measured surface elevation change from 2000 to 2008 and terminus positions from 1999 to 2012 using several types of satellite data. GPM shows no significant changes in terminus position and 0.4 ± 0.3 m a–1 thickening over the period, whereas GA retreated 55 ± 2 m a–1 and thinned 2.6 ± 0.3 m a–1. Mass-balance measurements over the period 1999/2000 show that accumulation at GPM was ten times greater than that at GA, but ablation was only three times greater. The mass-balance–altitude profile is similar for the two glaciers; differences in the mass-balance distribution are caused by differences in the accumulation–area ratio (AAR). Our results suggest that the AAR and the calving flux exert strong control on the evolution of glaciers in the region.

Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia

Calving glaciers are rapidly retreating in many regions under the influence of ice-water interactions at the glacier front. In contrast to the numerous researches conducted on fjords in front of tidewater glaciers, very few studies have been reported on lakes in which freshwater calving glaciers terminate. To better understand ice-water interactions at the front of freshwater calving glaciers, we measured lakewater temperature, turbidity, and bathymetry near Glaciar Perito Moreno, Upsala, and Viedma, large calving glaciers of the Southern Patagonia Icefield. The thermal structures of these lakes were significantly different from those reported in glacial fjords. There was no indication of upwelling subglacial meltwater; instead, turbid and cold glacial water discharge filled the region near the lake bottom. This was because water density was controlled by suspended sediment concentrations rather than by water temperature. Near-surface wind-driven circulation reaches a depth of ~180 m, forming a relatively warm isothermal layer (mean temperature of ~5–6°C at Perito Moreno, ~3–4°C at Upsala, and ~6–7°C at Viedma), which should convey heat energy to the ice-water interface. However, the deeper part of the glacier front is in contact with stratified cold water, implying a limited amount of melting there. In the lake in front of Glaciar Viedma, the region deeper than 120 m was filled entirely with turbid and very cold water at pressure melting temperature. Our results revealed a previously unexplored thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia, suggesting its importance in the subaqueous melting of freshwater calving glaciers.

Seasonal Variations in Ice-Front Position Controlled by Frontal Ablation at Glaciar Perito Moreno, the Southern Patagonia Icefield

The front position of calving glaciers is controlled by ice speed and frontal ablation which consists of the two processes of calving and subaqueous melting. However, the relative importance of these processes in frontal variation is difficult to assess and poorly understood, particularly for freshwater calving glaciers. To better understand the mechanism of seasonal variations involved in the ice front variations of freshwater calving glaciers, we measured front position, ice surface speed, air temperature, and proglacial lakewater temperature of Glaciar Perito Moreno in Patagonia. No substantial fluctuations in front position and ice speed occurred during the 15-year period studied (1999–2013), despite a warming trend in air temperature (0.059◦C a−1). Seasonal variations were observed both in the ice-front position (±50 m) and ice speed (±15%). The frontal ablation rate, computed from the frontal displacement rate and the ice speed, varied in a seasonal manner with an amplitude approximately five times greater than that in the ice speed. The frontal ablation correlated well with seasonal lakewater temperature variations (r = 0.96) rather than with air temperature (r = 0.86). Our findings indicate that the seasonal ice front variations of Glaciar Perito Moreno are primarily due to frontal ablation, which is controlled through subaqueous melting by the thermal conditions of the lake.

Upwelling of Macronutrients and Dissolved Inorganic Carbon by a Subglacial Freshwater Driven Plume in Bowdoin Fjord, Northwestern Greenland

In Greenland, tidewater glaciers discharge turbid subglacial freshwater into fjords, forming a plume near the calving front. To elucidate the effects of this discharge on nutrient and dissolved inorganic carbon transport to the surface in these fjords, we conducted observational studies on Bowdoin Glacier and in its fjord in northwestern Greenland during the summer of 2016. Our results provide evidence of macronutrient and dissolved inorganic carbon transport from deep in the fjord to the surface in front of the glacier. This transport is driven by plume formation resulting from subglacial freshwater discharge and subsequent upwelling along the glacier calving front. The plume water is a mixture of subglacial freshwater and entrained fjord water. The fraction of glacial meltwater in the plume water is ~14% when it reaches the surface. The plume water is highly turbid because it contains substantial amounts of sediment derived from subglacial weathering. After reaching the surface, the plume water submerges and forms a turbid subsurface layer below fresher surface water at densities of 25.0 to 26.5 σθ. Phytoplankton blooms (~6.5 μg/L chlorophyll a) were observed near the boundary between the fresher surface and turbid subsurface layers. The bloom was associated with a strong upward NO3 + NO2 flux, which was caused by the subduction of plume water. Our study demonstrated that the subglacial discharge and plume formation at the front of Bowdoin Glacier play a key role in the availability of nutrients and the subsequent growth of phytoplankton in the glaciated fjord.

Surface mass balance, ice velocity and near-surface ice temperature on Qaanaaq Ice Cap, northwestern Greenland, from 2012 to 2016

ABSTRACT To better understand the processes controlling recent mass loss of peripheral glaciers and ice caps in northwestern Greenland, we measured surface mass balance (SMB), ice velocity and near-surface ice temperature on Qaanaaq Ice Cap in the summers of 2012–16. The measurements were performed along a survey route spanning the terminus of an outlet glacier to the upper reaches (243–968 m a.s.l.). The ice-cap-wide SMB ranged from −1.10 ± 0.29 to −0.13 ± 0.26 m w.e. a−1 for the years from 2012/13 to 2015/16. Mass balance showed substantially large fluctuations over the study period under the influence of summer temperature and snow accumulation. Ice velocity showed seasonal speedup only in the summer of 2012, suggesting an extraordinary amount of meltwater penetrated to the bed and enhanced basal ice motion. Ice temperature at a depth of 13 m was −8.0°C at 944 m a.s.l., which was 2.5°C warmer than that at 243 m a.s.l., suggesting that ice temperature in the upper reaches was elevated by refreezing and percolation of meltwater. Our study provided in situ data from a relatively unstudied region in Greenland, and demonstrated the importance of continued monitoring of these processes for longer timespans in the future.