Basal melt rates and ocean circulation under the Ryder Glacier ice tongue and their response to climate warming: a high-resolution modelling study

The oceanic forcing of basal melt under floating ice shelves in Greenland and Antarctica is one of the major sources of uncertainty in climate ice sheet modelling. We use a high-resolution, nonhydrostatic configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm) t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The cryosphere 2023-07, Vol.17 (7), p.2755-2777
Main Authors: Wiskandt, Jonathan, Koszalka, Inga Monika, Nilsson, Johan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Circulation
Climate
Climate change
Climate models
Configurations
Density stratification
Expeditions
Floating ice
Fresh water
Freshwater
General circulation models
Geometry
Glaciation
Glacier ice
Glacier melting
Glacier tongues
Glaciers
Global warming
High resolution
Ice
Ice sheets
Ice shelves
Inland water environment
Land ice
Modelling
Nonlinear response
Ocean circulation
Ocean currents
Ocean models
Ocean temperature
Oceans
Salinity
Sea level
Sheet modelling
Temperature
Water circulation
Water discharge
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Summary:The oceanic forcing of basal melt under floating ice shelves in Greenland and Antarctica is one of the major sources of uncertainty in climate ice sheet modelling. We use a high-resolution, nonhydrostatic configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm) to investigate basal melt rates and melt-driven circulation in the Sherard Osborn Fjord under the floating tongue of Ryder Glacier, northwestern Greenland. The control model configuration, based on the first-ever observational survey by Ryder 2019 Expedition, yielded melt rates consistent with independent satellite estimates. A protocol of model sensitivity experiments quantified the response to oceanic thermal forcing due to warming Atlantic Water and to the buoyancy input from the subglacial discharge of surface fresh water. We found that the average basal melt rates show a nonlinear response to oceanic forcing in the lower range of ocean temperatures, while the response becomes indistinguishable from linear for higher ocean temperatures, which unifies the results from previous modelling studies of other marine-terminating glaciers. The melt rate response to subglacial discharge is sublinear, consistent with other studies. The melt rates and circulation below the ice tongue exhibit a spatial pattern that is determined by the ambient density stratification.
ISSN:1994-0424
1994-0416
1994-0424
1994-0416
DOI:10.5194/tc-17-2755-2023