CALVING GLACIERS Depth (Hw) Is Linear, and Can Be Simply Expressed As U C = Chw
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C CALVING GLACIERS depth (hw) is linear, and can be simply expressed as u c = chw. The value of the coefficient c varies greatly in different settings, being highest for temperate gla- Charles R. Warren ciers and lowest for polar glaciers. Also, for any given School of Geography and Geosciences, University of water depth, calving is an order of magnitude faster in St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK fjords (Fjords) than in lakes, largely as a result of the effect of the different water densities on the buoyancy Calving glaciers terminate in water and lose mass by calv- forces acting on the ice. Much of our understanding ing, the process whereby masses of ice break off to form of the dynamics of calving glaciers stems from inten- icebergs. Since they may consist of temperate or polar sive studies of a small number of Alaskan glaciers ice, may be grounded or floating, and may flow into the (Alaskan Glaciers), particularly Columbia Glacier and sea or into lakes, many types exist. They are widely dis- LeConte Glacier (Meier, 1997; O’Neel et al., 2001). tributed, but while lake-calving glaciers may exist in any This work established the empirical uc/hw relationship, glacierized mountain range, tidewater glaciers but left the physical processes behind it unclear. Model- (Tidewater Glaciers) are currently confined to latitudes ing has subsequently shown that this relationship, and higher than 45 . Typically, calving glaciers are fast the contrasting calving rates in tidewater and freshwa- flowing and characterized by extensional (stretching) flow ter, can be understood with reference to intricate feed- near their termini, resulting in profuse crevassing backs between calving and glacier dynamics (Crevasses). They usually terminate at near-vertical ice (Dynamics of Glaciers) (Van der Veen, 2002; Benn cliffs, which are typically a few tens of meters in height et al., 2007). In essence, calving rates are controlled but are sometimes as much as 80 m high. Calving activity primarily by variations in longitudinal strain rates and above the waterline comprises a continuum from small ice velocities (especially sliding speeds), which deter- fragments of ice to pillars the full height of the cliff. Below mine the density and depth of crevassing. the waterline much ice may be lost through melting, but, in Calving glaciers are significant for three main reasons: deep water, buoyancy causes infrequent but high magni- tude calving events. In some settings, thermal erosion 1. Glacier dynamics. Calving glaciers comprise the most (melting) at the waterline can cause calving by undercut- dynamic elements of many of the world’s ice masses, ting the cliff. The calving process permits much larger vol- and calving is the major means of ice loss from umes of ice to be lost over a given time than melting; this is the two continental ice sheets of Antarctica and seen spectacularly at the margins of ice shelves (Ice Shelf ) Greenland (Antarctica and Greenland Ice Sheet) from which tabular icebergs (Iceberg) with surface areas (Rignot and Kanagaratnam, 2006). An understanding of many tens of square kilometers can be released. For of calving processes is therefore critical for predicting example, over 35 days in 2002, an area of 3,250 km2 of cryospheric response to future climate change and con- the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica calved catastrophically, sequent sea-level rise; our present limited understand- releasing 720 km3 of ice into the ocean. ing of the links between climate and ice dynamics Glaciers calve faster in deeper water. This correlation hinders such predictions (Nick et al., 2009). During between calving rate (u c in meters per annum) and water the waning stages of Quaternary glacial periods Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh & Umesh K. Haritashya (eds.), Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2, # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 106 CANADIAN ROCKIES AND COAST MOUNTAINS OF CANADA (Quaternary Glaciation), calving was the dominant Cross-references process of mass loss around the midlatitude ice Alaskan Glaciers sheets, and calving processes strongly affected their Antarctica patterns of growth and decay. Armadas of icebergs Dynamics of Glaciers discharged during ice sheet collapses are believed to Fjords have caused global climate change by altering Glacier Lake Outburst Floods oceanic circulation. Calving has also accounted for Global Warming and its Effect on Snow/Ice/Glaciers Greenland Ice Sheet the rapid collapse of ice shelves around the Antarctic Ice Shelf Peninsula in recent decades, most notably the Larsen Marine Ice Sheet ice shelves. Quaternary Glaciation 2. Non-climatic behavior. Calving glacier fluctuations are Sea-Level highly sensitive to topographic controls, with advances Tidewater Glaciers and retreats often being punctuated by stillstands at topographic pinning points – locations of relative narrowing and shallowing. Some tidewater glaciers fluctuate cyclically, in ways unrelated to climate, over CANADIAN ROCKIES AND COAST MOUNTAINS distances of tens of kilometers and over timescales of OF CANADA centuries to millennia. Therefore, neither the contem- porary behavior of calving glaciers nor the geomorpho- John J. Clague1, Brian Menounos2, Roger Wheate2 logical records from past fluctuations can be 1Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, interpreted straightforwardly as indicators of climatic Burnaby, BC, Canada change (Warren, 1992; Vieli et al., 2001). 2Geography Program and Natural Resources and 3. Socioeconomic impacts. Calving glaciers can provide Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern resources for society, but they also represent significant British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada hazards. Resources include tourism and the medium- term possibility of harnessing Antarctic tabular ice- Definition bergs as a source of freshwater, while hazards include 2 icebergs and glacier lake outburst floods (Glacier Lake Alpine glaciers cover about 26,000 km of British Colum- Outburst Floods). With continued global warming bia and westernmost Alberta. The glacier source areas are (Global Warming and Its Effect on Snow/Ice/Glaciers), cirques and plateaus above about 1,500-m elevation in calving may lead to rapid and sustained loss of ice several mountain ranges that trend northwest through the from the marine ice sheet (Marine Ice Sheet) of two provinces. Some glaciers in the Coast and St. Elias West Antarctica, in turn causing global sea-level rise Mountains extend down to elevations below 500 m asl of 3–4 m (Sea-Level). and one (Grand Pacific Glacier) calves into the sea. This article summarizes the distribution of glaciers in British Columbia (B.C.) and Alberta, discusses the mass balance Bibliography and climatology of the glaciers, and describes historical Benn, D. I., Warren, C. R., and Mottram, R. H., 2007. Calving pro- changes in ice cover. cesses and the dynamics of calving glaciers. Earth Science Reviews, 82, 143–179. Meier, M. F., 1997. The iceberg discharge process: observations and Introduction inferences drawn from the study of Columbia Glacier. In van der The total area of glaciers in British Columbia (B.C.) and Veen, C. J. (eds.), Calving Glaciers: Report of a Workshop, 2 Febuary. 28–March 2, 1997. Byrd Polar Research Centre Alberta is about 26,000 km , which is about one quarter Report No. 15. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, of the area of alpine ice cover in North America, but only pp. 109–114. 0.2% of the total on Earth. The number of glaciers, Nick, F. M., Vieli, A., Howat, I. M., and Joughin, I., 2009. Large- although difficult to establish, is approximately 15,000, scale changes in Greenland outlet glacier dynamics triggered at of which about 1,000 are in Alberta. Nearly 70% of the 2 – the terminus. Nature Geoscience, ,110 114. total glacierized area in B.C. and Alberta is in the Coast O’Neel, S., Echelmeyer, K. A., and Motyka, R. J., 2001. Short-term flow dynamics of a retreating tidewater glacier: LeConte Glacier, Mountains, a series of northwest-trending ranges border- Alaska, U.S.A. Journal of Glaciology, 47, 567–578. ing the Pacific coast and extending about 1,000 km from Rignot, E., and Kanagaratnam, P., 2006. Changes in the velocity the B.C.–Washington border on the south to the B.C.– structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Science, 311, 986–990. Yukon border on the north (Figure 1). The highest peaks Van der Veen, C. J., 2002. Calving glaciers. Progress in Physical in the Coast Mountains are in the southern part of the Geography, 26,96–122. mountain system, culminating in Mount Waddington Vieli, A., Funk, M., and Blatter, H., 2001. Flow dynamics of tidewa- ter glaciers: a numerical modelling approach. Journal of Glaciol- (4,016 m asl). The southern part of the St. Elias Mountains ogy, 47, 595–606. extends into northern B.C. along its border with Alaska, Warren, C. R., 1992. Iceberg calving and the glacioclimatic record. and peaks in that area exceed 4,000 m asl, the highest Progress in Physical Geography, 16, 253–282. being Mount Fairweather (4,663 m asl). CANADIAN ROCKIES AND COAST MOUNTAINS OF CANADA 107 1140°40° 120°W Richardson Mtns. MMackenzie Mountains YUKON a c k OOgilvie Mtns. e g n NORTHWEST TERRITORIES CANADA i z lv SSelwyn Mtns. i i e e e UNITED STATES M M lw o tn y u s n n . M ta t in n s s . St.S Elias Mtns. t. E l ia s NH 60° M tn s . CCassiar Mtns. a s s ia r M tn s . SSkeena Mtns. k e OOmineca Mtns. e Rocky Mountains C n m a in o M e c t a a n s M ALBERTA . s tn s t . H a z e BRITISH l t M o COLUMBIA n Interior Plateau o M t CCariboo Mtns. u n a Pacific s r . ib n o I o Ocean n t M s tn u a s l .