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Iceberg Calving and Meltwater Drainage at the Ice-Cliff Terminus of Helheim Glacier, Greenland

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Iceberg Calving and Meltwater Drainage at the Ice-Cliff Terminus of Helheim Glacier, Greenland Iceberg Calving and Meltwater Drainage at the Ice-Cliff Terminus of Helheim Glacier, Greenland Sierra Melton Richard Alley Sridhar Anandakrishnan Byron Parizek Penn State Photo: NASA Geosciences Helheim NASA JPL Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 2 Marine-terminating glaciers Glacier Fjord Image: NASA Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 3 Marine-terminating glaciers lose ice through… Iceberg calving Melting Modified from Parizek et al., 2019 Modified from www.AntarcticGlaciers.org, Jacob Bendle Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 4 Calving: Not all icebergs are created equal Nontabular Icebergs Tabular Icebergs Sentinel-2, 7 May 2016, Helheim Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 5 Nontabular iceberg calving at Helheim Glacier Time-lapse footage, James et al., 12 July 2010 Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 6 Meltwater: Glacial hydrology surface meltwater lake icebergs glacier fjord Modified from Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion www.AntarcticGlaciers.org, Jacob Bendle 7 Meltwater: Glacial hydrology surface meltwater lake Surface meltwater icebergs drains to bed glacier fjord Subglacial hydrology High water supply: Channelized network (Röthlisberger, 1972) Modified from Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion www.AntarcticGlaciers.org, Jacob Bendle 8 Meltwater: Glacial hydrology surface meltwater lake Surface meltwater icebergs drains to bed glacier fjord Subglacial hydrology Meltwater plume High water supply: Channelized network (Röthlisberger, 1972) Buoyant freshwater rises toward surface, stopping after reaching neutral density Hypothesis: Plume appearance indicates that the subglacial water system is channelized to a grounded glacial front Modified from Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion www.AntarcticGlaciers.org, Jacob Bendle 9 Buoyant meltwater plume at Helheim Glacier Drone footage from Sridhar Anandakrishnan, summer 2019 Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 10 Helheim Glacier, Greenland Greenland’s 5th largest glacier (Enderlin et al., 2014) Flows up to >25 m/day: Fastest-flowing glacier in East Greenland (Rignot et al., 2004) Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 11 What is Helheim’s calving behavior? How does meltwater drain? How are calving and meltwater drainage related? Satellite Imagery Time-Lapse Imagery 2011-2019 Extreme Ice Survey Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 12 Satellite Imagery 1NIR: Near-Infrared 2SWIR: Short-wave Infrared 3CAVIS: Clouds, Aerosols, Water Vapor, Ice, & Snow Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 13 07-18-2017 06:00 Plume at center terminus Fractures south of plume Meltwater plume observation Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 14 07-18-2017 09:00 Plume disappeared Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 15 07-18-2017 12:00 Large nontabular calving a few hours after plume disappeared Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 16 Plume consistently appeared at central terminus WorldView-1 (©2012 Maxar Technologies, Inc.), 24 June 2012 Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 17 Digitized terminus positions from satellite imagery Sentinel-2 band 2, 8 September 2019 Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 18 Meltwater pooling on glacier surface QuickBird (© 2011 Maxar Technologies, inc.), 24 Aug 2011 Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 19 Calculated water surface area with NDWIice Normalized Difference Water Index for Ice 퐵퐿푈퐸 − 푅퐸퐷 True-color Sentinel-2 푁퐷푊퐼푖푐푒 = Classified into “water” and imagery from 23 July 2017 퐵퐿푈퐸 + 푅퐸퐷 “no water” pixels NDWIice method developed by Yang & Smith (2013) Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 20 Time-series: Plume Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 21 Time-series: Plume, calving Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 22 Time-series: Plume, calving, terminus position Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 23 Time-series: Plume, calving, terminus position, & surface water Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 24 Terminus position: Advance and retreat Relatively stable terminus position 2011-2016 Retreated ~1.5 km beyond despite ~3-4 km seasonal fluctuations previous retreats in 2017 & 2019 Most advanced – 10 Mar 2011 (defined as zero) Most retreated – 8 Sep 2019 (5.6 km behind) Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 25 Calving and plumes Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 26 Ceased calving when plume was visible One exception: 16 April 2017 Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 27 Ceased calving when plume was visible, except… 16 April 2017 Tabular iceberg Plume Landsat-8 WV-2 (©2017 Maxar Technologies, Inc.) Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 28 Why did calving (generally) not occur while a plume was visible? Basal crevasses could be unable to Supports our hypothesis that form at a completely grounded glacial plume appearance indicates a grounded glacial front, inhibiting full-thickness calving front and channelized subglacial water system Modified from Murray et al. (2015) Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 29 Meltwater drainage: Subglacial flow pathways Subglacial flow pathways coincide with plume locations Sentinel-2, 7 May 2016 Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 30 Meltwater drainage: Timing Lake & crevasses: Downglacier filling & drainage progression Plumes: Appear after subglacial system reconfigures into channelized network Visible while surface crevasses are filled Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 31 Seasonal sequence driven by evolving hydrology Lake drainage & large release of meltwater into the subglacial system Channelized subglacial drainage system Buoyant plume discharges from grounded terminus Calving ceases Ungrounding of terminus: Plume dispersion and disappearance Calving resumes Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 32 Link between meltwater drainage and iceberg calving, the two major ways in which marine-terminating glaciers lose ice Background Image: NASA Introduction Methods Results Discussion Conclusion 33 Acknowledgements • Huge thank you to my advisors/committee: Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Richard Alley, and Byron Parizek • Funding from a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Heising-Simons Foundation • Michael Shahin, Leigh Stearns, the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Laura Kehrl, and Ian Joughin • Cathleen Torres Parisian and the Polar Geospatial Center • Nouf Waleed Alsaad, Luke Trusel, the Penn State Ice and Climate Exploration research team, and the Penn State Geosciences Department Background Image: NASA 34 Thank you! @SierraMelting 35.
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