Mélange, landfast sea ice, ice velocities: What controls seasonal calving rates  in North West Greenland?

Hedetoft, Sofie; Bang Brinck, Olivia; Mottram, Ruth; Gierisch, Andrea M. U.; Olsen, Steffen Malskær; Olesen, Martin; Hansen, Nicolaj; Bjørk, Anders Anker; Loebel, Erik; Solgaard, Anne; Thejll, Peter

doi:10.5194/tc-20-5071-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5071-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Improving the contribution of the land cryosphere to sea level...

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5071-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

Research article

|

09 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 09 Sep 2026

Mélange, landfast sea ice, ice velocities: What controls seasonal calving rates in North West Greenland?

Sofie Hedetoft, Olivia Bang Brinck, Ruth Mottram, Andrea M. U. Gierisch, Steffen Malskær Olsen, Martin Olesen, Nicolaj Hansen, Anders Anker Bjørk, Erik Loebel, Anne Solgaard, and Peter Thejll

Data sets

Mélange or landfast ice: What controls seasonal calving at Greenland outlet glaciers? Workbenches for Earth Observation and in-situ data processing Olivia Bang Brink, Sofie Hedetoft, Ruth Mottram https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15195629

Data product of Greenland glacier calving front locations delineated by deep learning, 2013 to 2021 Loebel, Erik Humbert, Angelika Scheinert, Mirko Heidler, Konrad Zhu, Xiao Xiang Liebezeit, Charlotte Horwath, Martin Sohn, Julia https://dx.doi.org/10.25532/OPARA-208

Model code and software

glacier-front-extraction: Release v2.0.0 Erik Loebel https://zenodo.org/records/15295659

Video supplement

Mélange or landfast ice: What controls seasonal calving at Greenland outlet glaciers? Workbenches for Earth Observation and in-situ data processing Olivia Bang Brink, Sofie Hedetoft, Ruth Mottram https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15195629

Short summary

Iceberg mélange is the jumble of icebergs in front of some glaciers that calve into the sea. Some studies suggest mélange might help to control the retreat of glaciers. We studied 3 glaciers in NW Greenland where we used GPS sensors and satellites to track ice movement. We found that glaciers push forward and calve all year, including when mélange and landfast sea ice are present, suggesting mélange is not important in supporting glaciers, but may influence the seasonal calving cycle.