Ole B. Olesen

Calculation of glacier ablation from air temperature, West Greenland

Recent measurements by the Geological Survey of Greenland (GGU) confirm a relation between glacier ablation and air temperature expressed in the form of positive temperature sums. The relation has already been used for the simulation of runoff from glacier-covered basins but might also be suitable for calculating ablation under alternative climates.

Tidal bending of glaciers: a linear viscoelastic approach

Abstract In theoretical treatments of tidal bending of floating glaciers, the glacier is usually modelled as an elastic beam with uniform thickness, resting on an elastic foundation. With a few exceptions, values of the elastic (Young’s) modulus E of ice derived from tidal deflection records of floating glaciers are in the range 0.9–3 GPa. It has therefore been suggested that the elastic-beam model with a single value of E ≈ 1GPa adequately describes tidal bending of glaciers. In contrast, laboratory experiments with ice give E = 9.3 GPa, i.e. 3–10 times higher than the glacier-derived values. This suggests that ice creep may have a significant influence on tidal bending of glaciers. Moreover, detailed tidal-deflection and tilt data from Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier, northeast Greenland, cannot be explained by elastic-beam theory. We present a theory of tidal bending of glaciers based on linear viscoelastic-beam theory. A four-element, linear viscoelastic model for glacier ice with a reasonable choice of model parameters can explain the observed tidal flexure data. Implications of the viscoelastic response of glaciers to tidal forcing are discussed briefly.

Automatic glacier ablation measurements using pressure transducers

An instrument is described that automatically records ice ablation while eliminating the need for ablation stakes. A pressure transducer placed at the bottom of a hole drilled into the ice is connected by a hose to a bladder lying on the surface. Ice ablation is detected as a reduction in the hydrostatic pressure measured by the transducer.

Tidal movement of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier, northeast Greenland: observations and modelling

Abstract Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier is a >60 km long and 20 km wide floating outlet glacier located at 79°30’ N, 22° W, draining a large area of the northeast Greenland ice sheet. Climate, mass-balance and dynamics studies were carried out on the glacier in three field seasons in 1996, 1997 and 1998. As part of this work, tidal-movement observations were carried out by simultaneous differential global positioning system (GPS) measurements at several locations distributed on the glacier surface. The GPS observations were performed continuously over several tidal cycles. At the same time, tiltmeter measurements were carried out in the grounding zones along the glacier margins and upstream, where the glacier leaves the main ice sheet A tide gauge installed in the sea immediately in front of the glacier front recorded the tide in the open sea during the field seasons. The observations show that the main part of the glacier tongue responds as a freely floating plate to the phase and amplitude of the local tide in the sea. However, kilometre-wide flexure zones exist along the marginal and upstream grounding lines. Attempts to model the observed tidal deflection and tilt patterns in the flexure zone by elastic-beam theory are unsuccessful, in contrast to previous findings by other investigators. The strongest disagreement between our measurements and results derived from elastic-beam theory is a significant variation of the phase of the tidal records with distance from the grounding line (most clearly displayed by the tilt records). We suggest that the viscous properties of glacier ice must be taken into account, and consequently that a viscoelastic-beam model must be used to adequately describe tidal bending of floating glaciers.

FIELD STATIONS FOR GLACIER-CLIMATE RESEARCH, WEST GREENLAND

During the past ten years, the Geological Survey of Greenland (GGU) has measured glacier mass-balance parallel with basic climate elements. Field stations were operated near the margin of the Greenland ice sheet in Johan Dahl Land 1978–1983, at Qamanârssup sermia 1980–1986 and at Tasersiaq since 1982. Measurements of snow accumulation and ice ablation are made at many stakes drilled into the ice. Ablation measurements are made daily at the stakes closest to the stations while more distant stakes are only measured a few times during the season. The climate measurements include air temperature, precipitation, wind, humidity, evaporation, sunshine duration and shortwave radiation. The field stations are expensive to operate but it will be possible to change over to cheaper field programmes in the future by relying on automatic instruments and by stressing “index” measurements.

Mapping of a hydrological ice-sheet drainage basin on the West Greenland ice-sheet margin from ERS-1/-2 SAR interferometry, ice-radar measurement and modelling

Abstract The hydrological ice-sheet basin draining into the Tasersiaq lake, West Greenland (66°13’ N, 50°30’W), was delineated, first using standard digital elevation models (DEMs) for ice-sheet surface and bedrock, and subsequently using a new high-resolution dataset, with a surface DEM derived from repeat-track interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and a bedrock topography derived from an airborne 60 MHz ice-penetrating radar. The extent of the delineation was calculated from a water-pressure potential as a function of the ice-sheet surface and bedrock elevations and a hydraulic factor k describing the relative importance of the potential of the ice overburden pressure compared to the bedrock topography. Themeltwater run-off for the basin delineations was modelled with an energy-balance model calibrated with observed ice-sheet ablation and compared to a 25 year time series of measured basin run-off. The standard DEMs were found to be inadequate for delineation purposes, whereas delineations from high-resolution data were found to be very sensitive to changes in k in a non-linear way, causing a factor 5 change of basin area, corresponding to a doubling of the modelled runoff. The 50% standard deviation of the measured basin run-off could thus be explained by small year-to-year variations of the k-factor.