Articles | Volume 14, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-211-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-211-2020
Research article
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24 Jan 2020
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 24 Jan 2020

A decade of variability on Jakobshavn Isbræ: ocean temperatures pace speed through influence on mélange rigidity

Ian Joughin, David E. Shean, Benjamin E. Smith, and Dana Floricioiu

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Cited articles

Amundson, J. M. and Truffer, M.: A unifying framework for iceberg-calving models, J. Glaciol., 56, 822–830, 2010. 
Amundson, J. M., Fahnestock, M., Truffer, M., Brown, J., Luethi, M. P., and Motyka, R. J.: Ice melange dynamics and implications for terminus stability, Jakobshavn Isbrae Greenland, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 115, F01005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JF001405, 2010. 
Bassis, J. N. and Ma, Y.: Evolution of basal crevasses links ice shelf stability to ocean forcing, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 409, 203–211, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.11.003, 2015. 
Bevan, S. L., Luckman, A. J., Benn, D. I., Cowton, T., and Todd, J.: Impact of warming shelf waters on ice mélange and terminus retreat at a large SE Greenland glacier, The Cryosphere, 13, 2303–2315, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2303-2019, 2019. 
Beyer, R. A., Alexandrov, O., and McMichael, S.: The Ames Stereo Pipeline: NASA's Open Source Software for Deriving and Processing Terrain Data, Earth Space Sci., 5, 537–548, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EA000409, 2018. 
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Short summary
Jakobshavn Isbræ, considered to be Greenland's fastest glacier, has varied its speed and thinned dramatically since the 1990s. Here we examine the glacier's behaviour over the last decade to better understand this behaviour. We find that when the floating ice (mélange) in front of the glacier freezes in place during the winter, it can control the glacier's speed and thinning rate. A recently colder ocean has strengthened this mélange, allowing the glacier to recoup some of its previous losses.