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Ice-Sheet Ocean Interactions around Greenland
The
Greenland Ice Sheet's contribution to sea-level rise has
doubled over the last decade due to increased melting and, to
a greater extent, to the widespread acceleration of outlet
glaciers around Greenland. One of the mechanisms we believe
may have triggered this acceleration are changes in ocean
circulation in the North Atlantic which are delivering larger
amounts of subtropical waters to the high latitudes. If these
waters reach the glaciers, they will drive increased submarine
melting and change the force balance at the edge of the
glacier – resulting in glacier acceleration. To test
this hypothesis I have been collecting data at the edge of
several outlet glaciers in East Greenland. My goal is to map
the water property distribution and, more importantly,
understand the processes which control the heat transport (and
submarine melting) to the edge of Greenland's glaciers.
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Photo: Ocean Measurements at 79 N Glacier: F. Straneo
and J. Ryder (WHOI) collected temperature, salinity
profiles in a rift in the glacier September 2009 (Photo by
Eric Philips)
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Collaborators:
Gordon
Hamilton – Climate Change Institute, University of Maine
David
Sutherland – Physical Oceanography, University of
Washington
Ruth
Curry – Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution
Leigh
Stearns – Dept of Geology, University of Kansas
Presentations and Posters
 This
project is supported by WHOI's Ocean and Climate Change
Institute and by the National Science Foundation Ocean
Sciences Division.
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