Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 58, No. 208, 2012 doi: 10.3189/2012JoG11J242 229 The response of Petermann Glacier, Greenland, to large calving events, and its future stability in the context of atmospheric and oceanic warming F.M. NICK,1,2 A. LUCKMAN,3 A. VIELI,4 C.J. VAN DER VEEN,5 D. VAN AS,6 R.S.W. VAN DE WAL,1 F. PATTYN,2 A.L. HUBBARD,7 D. FLORICIOIU8 1Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2Laboratoire de Glaciologie, Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium E-mail:
[email protected] 3Department of Geography, College of Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK 4Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK 5Department of Geography and Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA 6Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark 7Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK 8Remote Sensing Technology Institute, German Aerospace Research Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany ABSTRACT. This study assesses the impact of a large 2010 calving event on the current and future stability of Petermann Glacier, Greenland, and ascertains the glacier’s interaction with different components of the climate and ocean system. We use a numerical ice-flow model that captures the major aspects of the glacier’s mass budget, the resistive forces controlling glacier flow, and includes dynamic calving. Satellite observations and model results show that the recent break-off of 25% of the floating tongue did not result in a significant glacier speed-up due to the low lateral resistance of this relatively wide and thin ice tongue.