Extreme melting at Greenland's largest floating ice tongue

Zeising, Ole; Neckel, Niklas; Dörr, Nils; Helm, Veit; Steinhage, Daniel; Timmermann, Ralph; Humbert, Angelika

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1333-2024

Articles | Volume 18, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1333-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1333-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 3

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

22 Mar 2024

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 22 Mar 2024

Extreme melting at Greenland's largest floating ice tongue

Ole Zeising, Niklas Neckel, Nils Dörr, Veit Helm, Daniel Steinhage, Ralph Timmermann, and Angelika Humbert

Data sets

Stake surface ablation/accumulation measurements at 79°N Glacier between 2017 and 2018 Ole Zeising et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.922131

Ice surface elevation and ice thickness at 79°N Glacier, Greenland from airborne measurements in July 2021 Ole Zeising et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.963752

Time series of Lagrangian basal melt rates at 79°N Glacier since 2016 Ole Zeising et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.928903

Lagrangian thinning rates at 79°N Glacier between 2017 and 2018 Ole Zeising et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.928541

Co-editor-in-chief

This study addresses an important question regarding the stability of ice shelves, a question that is highly relevant for Greenland and Antarctica. Using a unique combination of observations, the authors document extensive thinning and extremely high basal melt rates at the floating tongue Nioghalvfjerdsbræ, North Greenland, an important and fast-changing part of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The increase in melt rates are suggested to be caused by an increase in surface melt that is funneling surface water under the ice shelf.