Grounding line migration through the calving season at Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland, observed with terrestrial radar interferometry

Xie, Surui; Dixon, Timothy H.; Voytenko, Denis; Deng, Fanghui; Holland, David M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1387-2018

Articles | Volume 12, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1387-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1387-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 4

Research article

|

17 Apr 2018

Research article |

| 17 Apr 2018

Grounding line migration through the calving season at Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland, observed with terrestrial radar interferometry

Surui Xie, Timothy H. Dixon, Denis Voytenko, Fanghui Deng, and David M. Holland

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1387-2018-supplement

Data sets

USGS EarthExplorer U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

Short summary

Time-varying velocity and topography of the terminus of Jakobshavn Isbræ were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer in three summer campaigns (2012, 2015, 2016). Surface elevation and tidal responses of ice speed suggest a narrow floating zone in early summer, while in late summer the entire glacier is likely grounded. We hypothesize that Jakobshavn Isbræ advances a few km in winter to form a floating zone but loses this floating portion in the subsequent summer through calving.