Arctic Field Projects
Project Title: Collaborative Research: Glacier-Ocean Coupling in a Large East Greenland Fjord (Award# 0909274)
PI: Hamilton, Gordon S (gordon.hamilton@maine.edu)
Phone: (207) 581.3446
Institute/Department: U of Maine, Sawyer Environmental Research Laboratory
IPY Project? NO
Funding Agency: US\Federal\NSF\OD\OPP\ARC\ANS
Program Manager: Dr. Martin Jeffries (mjeffrie@nsf.gov)
Discipline(s): | Geological Sciences\Glaciology | Oceanography\Climate Change |
| Project Web Site(s): |
| NSF_Award_Info: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0909... |
Science Summary:
This award will support a study of glacier-fjord interactions in east Greenland. A pilot study conducted by the PIs in east Greenland, and a separate study in west Greenland, found warm ocean waters in the proximity of Helheim Glacier and Jakobshavn Isbræ, respectively, supporting the hypothesis that their acceleration was triggered by ocean warming. While intriguing, the presence of warm waters in Greenland's fjords alone is not enough to conclude that the ocean is modulating glacier dynamics. A test of this hypothesis requires a more detailed understanding of glacier/fjord interactions than is possible with the limited amount of data currently available. This study will fill this gap by investigating glacier-ocean interactions in a typical glacier-fjord system in East Greenland (Sermilik Fjord and Helheim Glacier) through an intensive three-year field program. Through summer surveys and year-round moored instruments, the research team will map the circulation and properties of the fjord on tidal to yearly time-scales, and quantify the liquid fresh water flux out of the fjord. Via collaboration with Greenlandic marine biologists, they also will obtain important ocean data in the region outside the fjord using tagged seals. GPS methods and remote sensing will allow changes in the flow behavior of Helheim Glacier to be examined in the context of changing fjord circulation. Satellite remote sensing and field tracking of large icebergs will provide estimates of the solid export of fresh water and its variability. The 'Intellectual Merit' of the proposed study lies in the current understanding that the contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level rise more than doubled in the last seven years, mostly because of a widespread and nearly simultaneous acceleration of many glaciers that terminate at tidewater in deep fjords. Understanding the causes of changes in glacier dynamics, and predicting their future trajectories, is a topic of enormous scientific and societal importance. The Greenland fjords provide an intimate connection between the ice sheet and the ocean and, in turn, raise the possibility that the observed warming of the ocean around southeast and western Greenland was the trigger for recent changes in outlet glacier dynamics. The study has numerous 'Broader Impacts'. There are likely to be a significant component of next-generation ice sheet models seeking to predict the evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet and future rates of sea level rise. The project brings together an inter-disciplinary group of investigators, involves two junior scientists embarking on their careers, and initiates an international collaboration with Greenlandic scientists. A graduate student will be trained in glaciology and physical oceanography, contributing to society's need for experts in the area of ice sheet-ocean interactions. The fieldwork utilizes local vessels and relies strongly on the knowledge of generations of local hunters who have navigated Sermilik Fjord, thus fostering a two-way exchange between the local community and foreign scientists. A non-technical report summarizing the findings of ocean-glacier measurements will distributed in the local community, which is vulnerable to rapid environmental changes affecting its primary natural resource.
Logistics Summary:
This project involves a collaboration between 0909274 (Hamilton, U of Maine, LEAD), 0909282 (Stearns, KU) and 0909373 (Straneo, WHOI). The investigators will increase understanding of glacier-ocean interactions in Greenland through an in-depth field study of one outlet glacier/fjord system - Helheim Glacier/Sermilik Fjord. The work will be conducted over three field seasons: 2010 – 2012. During each year, the researchers will make two trips, the first to set out instruments and conduct survey work, and the second to retrieve data and instruments and resurvey the area. For the first trip, two researchers will travel to/from Tasiilaq via commercial air through Iceland in early July; for the second, one researcher will travel via the same route in early September. Basing from Tasiilaq, the team will charter a commercial vessel and a helicopter to conduct the work. Via the boat, the team will deploy moorings and conduct GPS surveys of the glacier front. The helicopter will transport the researchers from Tasiilaq to the heavily-crevassed surface of Helheim Glacier, where they will conduct GPS surveys, install time-lapse cameras, launch AXCTD/XBT probes through leads in the sea ice, and access icebergs to install tracking devices. In total, the team will be in Greenland for three weeks in the first two years, and for 1-2 weeks the last year. During the latter, they will retrieve project equipment. In addition to their own work, the researchers will collaborate Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and local community members to deploy devices on seals to collect ocean temperature and depth data outside the fjord. A colleague from GINR will tag the seals from a local hunter’s boat.
The PI will arrange/pay for all logistics through the grant.UNAVCO will provide GPS systems as part of their NSF contract.
| Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
| 2010 | Greenland - Helheim Glacier | 07 / 01 / 2010 | 07 / 21 / 2010 | 5 |
| 2010 | Greenland - Sermilik Fjord | 07 / 01 / 2010 | 07 / 21 / 2010 | 5 |
| 2010 | Greenland - Tasiilaq | 07 / 01 / 2010 | 07 / 21 / 2010 | 5 |
| 2011 | Greenland - Helheim Glacier | 07 / 01 / 2011 | 07 / 21 / 2011 | 5 |
| 2011 | Greenland - Sermilik Fjord | 07 / 01 / 2011 | 07 / 21 / 2011 | 5 |
| 2011 | Greenland - Tasiilaq | 07 / 01 / 2011 | 07 / 21 / 2011 | 5 |
| 2012 | Greenland - Helheim Glacier | 07 / 01 / 2012 | 07 / 14 / 2012 | 5 |
| 2012 | Greenland - Sermilik Fjord | 07 / 01 / 2012 | 07 / 14 / 2012 | 5 |
| 2012 | Greenland - Tasiilaq | 07 / 01 / 2012 | 07 / 14 / 2012 | 5 |
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