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Abstract Frontal ablation, the combination of submarine melting and iceberg calving, changes the geometry of a glacier's terminus, influencing glacier dynamics, the fate of upwelling plumes and the distribution of submarine meltwater input into the ocean. Directly observing frontal ablation and terminus morphology below the waterline is difficult, however, limiting our understanding of these coupled ice–ocean processes. To investigate the evolution of a tidewater glacier's submarine terminus, we combine 3-D multibeam point clouds of the subsurface ice face at LeConte Glacier, Alaska, with concurrent observations of environmental conditions during three field campaigns between 2016 and 2018. We observe terminus morphology that was predominately overcut (52% in August 2016, 63% in May 2017 and 74% in September 2018), accompanied by high multibeam sonar-derived melt rates (4.84 m d −1 in 2016, 1.13 m d −1 in 2017 and 1.85 m d −1 in 2018). We find that periods of high subglacial discharge lead to localized undercut discharge outlets, but adjacent to these outlets the terminus maintains significantly overcut geometry, with an ice ramp that protrudes 75 m into the fjord in 2017 and 125 m in 2018. Our data challenge the assumption that tidewater glacier termini are largely undercut during periods of high submarine melting.
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Internal Gravity Waves Generated by Subglacial Discharge: Implications for Tidewater Glacier Melt
Abstract Submarine melting has been implicated in the accelerated retreat of marine‐terminating glaciers globally. Energetic ocean flows, such as subglacial discharge plumes, are known to enhance submarine melting in their immediate vicinity. Using observations and a large eddy simulation, we demonstrate that discharge plumes emit high‐frequency internal gravity waves that propagate along glacier termini and transfer energy to distant regions of the terminus. Our analysis of wave characteristics and their correlation with subglacial discharge forcing suggest that they derive their energy from turbulent motions within the discharge plume and its surface outflow. Accounting for the near‐terminus velocities associated with these waves increases predicted melt rates by up to 70%. This may help to explain known discrepancies between observed melt rates and theoretical predictions. Because the dynamical ingredients—a buoyant plume rising through a stratified ocean—are common to many tidewater glacier systems, such internal waves are likely to be widespread.
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- PAR ID:
- 10422191
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 50
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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