David A. Sutherland

Characteristics of ocean waters reaching Greenland's glaciers

Abstract Interaction of Greenland’s marine-terminating glaciers with the ocean has emerged as a key term in the ice-sheet mass balance and a plausible trigger for their recent acceleration. Our knowledge of the dynamics, however, is limited by scarcity of ocean measurements at the glacier/ocean boundary. Here data collected near six marine-terminating glaciers (79 North, Kangerdlugssuaq, Helheim and Petermann glaciers, Jakobshavn Isbræ, and the combined Sermeq Kujatdleq and Akangnardleq) are compared to investigate the water masses and the circulation at the ice/ocean boundary. Polar Water, of Arctic origin, and Atlantic Water, from the subtropical North Atlantic, are found near all the glaciers. Property analysis indicates melting by Atlantic Water (AW; found at the grounding line depth near all the glaciers) and the influence of subglacial discharge at depth in summer. AW temperatures near the glaciers range from 4.5˚C in the southeast, to 0.16˚C in northwest Greenland, consistent with the distance from the subtropical North Atlantic and cooling across the continental shelf. A review of its offshore variability suggests that AW temperature changes in the fjords will be largest in southern and smallest in northwest Greenland, consistent with the regional distribution of the recent glacier acceleration.

A Model Study of the Salish Sea Estuarine Circulation

ArealistichindcastsimulationoftheSalishSea,whichencompasses theestuarinesystemsofPugetSound, the Strait ofJuan de Fuca, and the Strait of Georgia, is described for the year 2006. The model shows moderate skill when compared against hydrographic, velocity, and sea surface height observations over tidal and subtidal time scales. Analysis of the velocity and salinity fields allows the structure and variability of the exchange flow to be estimated for the first time from the shelf into the farthest reaches of Puget Sound. This study utilizes the total exchange flow formalism that calculates volume transports and salt fluxes in an isohaline framework, which is then compared to previous estimates of exchange flow in the region. From this analysis, residence time distributions are estimated for Puget Sound and its major basins and are found to be markedly shorter than previous estimates. The difference arises from the ability of the model and the isohaline method for flux calculations to more accurately estimate the exchange flow. In addition, evidence is found to support the previously observed spring‐neap modulation of stratification at the Admiralty Inlet sill. However, the exchange flow calculated increases at spring tides, exactly opposite to the conclusion reached from an Eulerian average of observations.

Estimating ocean heat transports and submarine melt rates in Sermilik Fjord, Greenland, using lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP) velocity profiles

Abstract Submarine melting at the ice–ocean interface is a significant term in the mass balance of marine-terminating outlet glaciers. However, obtaining direct measurements of the submarine melt rate, or the ocean heat transport towards the glacier that drives this melting, has been difficult due to the scarcity of observations, as well as the complexity of oceanic flows. Here we present a method that uses synoptic velocity and temperature profiles, but accounts for the dominant mode of velocity variability, to obtain representative heat transport estimates. We apply this method to the Sermilik Fjord–Helheim Glacier system in southeastern Greenland. Using lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP) and hydrographic data collected in summer 2009, we find a mean heat transport towards the glacier of 29 × 109W, implying a submarine melt rate at the glacier face of 650 ma–1. The resulting adjusted velocity profile is indicative of a multilayer residual circulation, where the meltwater mixture flows out of the fjord at the surface and at the stratification maximum.

Distributed subglacial discharge drives significant submarine melt at a Greenland tidewater glacier

This is the publisher’s final pdf. The article is copyrighted by American Geophysical Union and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. It can be found at: http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291944-8007/

Modeling Turbulent Subglacial Meltwater Plumes: Implications for Fjord-Scale Buoyancy-Driven Circulation

AbstractFjord-scale circulation forced by rising turbulent plumes of subglacial meltwater has been identified as one possible mechanism of oceanic heat transfer to marine-terminating outlet glaciers. This study uses buoyant plume theory and a nonhydrostatic, three-dimensional ocean–ice model of a typical outlet glacier fjord in west Greenland to investigate the sensitivity of meltwater plume dynamics and fjord-scale circulation to subglacial discharge rates, ambient stratification, turbulent diffusivity, and subglacial conduit geometry. The terminal level of a rising plume depends on the cumulative turbulent entrainment and ambient stratification. Plumes with large vertical velocities penetrate to the free surface near the ice face; however, midcolumn stratification maxima create a barrier that can trap plumes at depth as they flow downstream. Subglacial discharge is varied from 1–750 m3 s−1; large discharges result in plumes with positive temperature and salinity anomalies in the upper water column. For ...

Characteristics and dynamics of two major Greenland glacial fjords

The circulation regimes of two major outlet glacial fjords in southeastern Greenland, Sermilik Fjord (SF) and Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord (KF), are investigated using data collected in summer 2009. The two fjords show similar flow patterns, with a time-dependent, vertically sheared flow structure dominating over the background estuarine flow driven by buoyancy input. We show that this time-dependent flow is consistent with circulation induced by density interface fluctuations at the fjord mouth, often referred to as intermediary circulation. One difference between the fjords is that the hydrographic and velocity structure below a surface modified layer is found to be three layer in KF in summer, compared to two layer in SF. Outside each fjord, large-scale geostrophic currents dictate the stratification at the mouth, although the way in which these large-scale flows impinge on each fjord is distinct. Combining the observations with estimates from existing theories, we find the magnitudes of the estuarine (Qe) and intermediary (Qi) circulation and show that Qi >> Qe, although along-fjord winds can also be significant. We expect that the critical parameter determining Qi/Qe is the sill depth compared to the fjord depth, with shallower sills corresponding to weaker intermediary circulation. Finally, we discuss the implications of strong intermediary circulation on calculating heat transport to the glacier face and its potential feedbacks on the background circulation in these highly stratified estuaries.

Is the Faroe Bank Channel Overflow Hydraulically Controlled

Abstract The overflow of dense water from the Nordic Seas through the Faroe Bank Channel (FBC) has attributes suggesting hydraulic control—primarily an asymmetry across the sill reminiscent of flow over a dam. However, this aspect has never been confirmed by any quantitative measure, nor is the position of the control section known. This paper presents a comparison of several different techniques for assessing the hydraulic criticality of oceanic overflows applied to data from a set of velocity and hydrographic sections across the FBC. These include 1) the cross-stream variation in the local Froude number, including a modified form that accounts for stratification and vertical shear, 2) rotating hydraulic solutions using a constant potential vorticity layer in a channel of parabolic cross section, and 3) direct computation of shallow water wave speeds from the observed overflow structure. Though differences exist, the three methods give similar answers, suggesting that the FBC is indeed controlled, with a...

The impact of glacier geometry on meltwater plume structure and submarine melt in Greenland fjords

Meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet often drains subglacially into fjords, driving upwelling plumes at glacier termini. Ocean models and observations of submarine termini suggest that plumes enhance melt and undercutting, leading to calving and potential glacier destabilization. Here we systematically evaluate how simulated plume structure and submarine melt during summer months depends on realistic ranges of subglacial discharge, glacier depth, and ocean stratification from 12 Greenland fjords. Our results show that grounding line depth is a strong control on plume-induced submarine melt: deep glaciers produce warm, salty subsurface plumes that undercut termini and shallow glaciers produce cold, fresh surface-trapped plumes that can overcut termini. Due to sustained upwelling velocities, plumes in cold, shallow fjords can induce equivalent depth-averaged melt rates compared to warm, deep fjords. These results detail a direct ocean-ice feedback that can affect the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Iceberg meltwater fluxes dominate the freshwater budget in Greenland's iceberg‐congested glacial fjords

Freshwater fluxes from the Greenland ice sheet have increased over the last two decades due to increases in liquid (i.e., surface and submarine meltwater) and solid ice (i.e., iceberg) fluxes. To predict potential ice sheet-ocean-climate feedbacks we must know the partitioning of freshwater fluxes from Greenland, including the conversion of icebergs to liquid (i.e., meltwater) fluxes within glacial fjords. Here we use repeat ~0.5 m-resolution satellite images from two major fjords to provide the first observation-based estimates of the meltwater flux from the dense matrix of floating ice called melange. We find that, because of its expansive submerged area (>100 km2) and rapid melt rate (~0.1-0.8 m d−1), the ice melange meltwater flux can exceed that from glacier surface and submarine melting. Our findings suggest that iceberg melt within the fjords must be taken into account in studies of glacial fjord circulation and the impact of Greenland melt on the ocean.

Quantifying flow regimes in a Greenland glacial fjord using iceberg drifters

Funded by The National Science Foundation. Grant Numbers: OCE-1130008, ARC-0909274 and The University of Oregon.