24/7 Space News
ICE WORLD
Greenland glacier accelerates each day with weather and tide changes
illustration only
Greenland glacier accelerates each day with weather and tide changes
by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 04, 2025

A comprehensive examination of a Greenland glacier's velocity reveals how different environmental factors combine to influence its daily movement.

Although the term 'glacial' usually implies an exceedingly slow progression, researchers have discovered that ice masses can accelerate and decelerate on both daily and hourly timescales. These rapid shifts are tied to fluctuations in air temperature, rainfall, and ocean tides.

A team from Japan's Hokkaido University tracked a Greenland glacier over six summer seasons, measuring how local weather and tides influenced its speed. Their findings, now available in The Cryosphere, shed new light on dynamic factors driving glacier flow.

"Short-term speed variations are key to understanding the physical processes controlling glacial motion, but studies are sparse for Greenlandic tidewater glaciers, particularly near the calving front," says Hokkaido University's Shin Sugiyama, who led the study. "Studying glacier dynamics near the ocean boundary is crucial to understanding the current and future mass loss of the ice sheet."

To investigate, the researchers focused on Bowdoin Glacier (Kangerluarsuup Sermia), a tidewater glacier situated in northwestern Greenland. Like many others across the region, it has exhibited thinning and substantial retreat since 2008. Throughout multiple summers, GPS instruments installed at intervals ranging from 500 meters to four kilometers from the calving front measured its motion. Concurrently, nearby sensors monitored air temperature and rainfall. In total, 90 days of data were collected between 2013 and 2019.

The data showed that the glacier's pace accelerated both once and twice each day. The single daily increase largely coincided with warmer daytime air triggering greater meltwater flow, while the twice-daily surge was more obvious closer to the calving margin and appeared to correspond with tidal shifts. In fact, the glacier tended to reach top speeds just before or during low tide.

In addition to these routine changes, researchers identified one or two episodes each summer in which the glacier sped up dramatically in response to exceptionally warm conditions or intense rainfall. "The correlations between ice speed and temperature demonstrate the strong influence of meltwater production on the dynamics of a Greenlandic outlet glacier," notes Sugiyama.

Speeds rose even faster whenever air temperatures topped 10 degrees C, and the time between peak heat and maximum ice velocity was a mere two hours, indicating rapid drainage of meltwater to the glacier bed. However, the effect of rainfall on ice flow proved more complicated, likely influenced by interactions between tide levels and the subglacial drainage network. "Our results provide important insights into tidewater glacier dynamics and contribute to an accurate understanding of future evolution of the ice sheet under a changing climate and environment in Greenland," Sugiyama says.

Research Report:Ice speed of a Greenlandic tidewater glacier modulated by tide, melt, and rain

Related Links
Hokkaido University
Beyond the Ice Age

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
ICE WORLD
Greenland ice crevasses escalate fueling further rise in sea levels
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 04, 2025
Over a five-year span, the Greenland ice sheet gained 930 million cubic meters of new crevasses, an amount comparable to inserting a Great Pyramid of Giza-sized fracture into the planet's second largest ice mass every few days. Steep increases in crevassing, particularly in swiftly flowing sectors, may trigger feedback loops that accelerate ice loss and drive sea level rise. Since 1992, Greenland's melt has lifted global sea levels by about 0.4 inches, with experts predicting it will add another f ... read more

ICE WORLD
Vast and SpaceX Call for Research Proposals to Advance Space Habitation

SpaceX mission to return US astronauts to happen 'soon': Trump

Satellite technology paves way for space traffic management

NASA Opens New Challenge to Inspire Climate Solutions

ICE WORLD
Sierra Space Dream Chaser Spaceplane Passes Key NASA Test in Preparation for ISS Resupply Mission

SpaceX launches from Florida, retires first-stage booster because of extra power needed

UK Government backs UK orbital launch with 20 million pound investment

How to Operate NASA's Orion Spacecraft for Artemis II Mission

ICE WORLD
Approaching the Red Planet from the Kitchen

Explaining persistent hydrogen in Mars atmosphere

ORBIMARS: A proposed terminology for Mars orbital operations

Now That's Ingenuity: First Aircraft Measurement of Winds on Another Planet

ICE WORLD
Astronaut insights from mid mission aboard Tiangong

China launches additional satellites for Spacesail Constellation

Shenzhou XIX crew completes second spacewalk mission

Shenzhou XIX crew completes second spacewalk

ICE WORLD
Sidus Space Receives FCC Approval for Direct-to-Device Capability

Starlink connectivity enhances Oracle Enterprise Communications Platform

South American Space Programs: No Cooperation, No Gains

Stoke Space secures $260M in Series C Funding

ICE WORLD
Tradition and hi tech sync at China 'AI temple fair'; Tourist hot spot stokes viral nostalgia

Ahead of Super Bowl, helicopter security flights will measure radiation in New Orleans

Generative AI's environmental impact in figures

Novel high-heat lubricant drastically reduces friction

ICE WORLD
Dwarf planet Ceres has rare organic material delivered by asteroids

A super-Earth laboratory for finding life beyond our solar system

Extreme supersonic winds detected on distant exoplanet

Astronauts to Collect Microbial Samples from Space Station Exterior

ICE WORLD
NASA Juno Mission Discovers Record-Breaking Volcanic Activity on Io

SwRI models suggest Pluto and Charon formed similarly to Earth and Moon

Citizen scientists help decipher Jupiter's cloud composition

Capture theory unveils how Pluto and Charon formed as a binary system

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.