Collaborative Research: High-resolution studies of glacier dynamics at two major outlet glaciers in East Greenland

合作研究：东格陵兰岛两个主要出口冰川冰川动力学的高分辨率研究

• 批准号: 0710891
• 负责人: Gordon Hamilton
• 金额: $ 29.8万
• 依托单位: University of Maine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-15 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0710891&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; resolution; studies; glacier

ABSTRACT NettlesOPP-0713970DavisOPP-071The Principal Investigators request support for an interdisciplinary, high-resolution study involving remote sensing and field investigations at two of Greenland's largest outlet glaciers. The study of the Helheim and Kangerdlugssuaq Glaciers will integrate seismological, glaciological, and geodetic observations to build an understanding of flow dynamics at major outlet glaciers, which represent a critical junction between the atmosphere, cryosphere, and hydrosphere. The project would be the first long-term occupation of an outlet glacier by a GPS receiver network, and would address questions of flow variation on earthquake to interannual time scales. Recent discoveries have made it clear that our understanding of the dynamics of flow at large outlet glaciers is limited and inadequate for understanding the ways in which the outlet glaciers, and the ice sheets they drain, respond to external forcings. The spectrum of timescales over which significant velocity variations in outlet glacier flow can occur appears to be much broader than previously believed, with significant variations occurring on timescales of 10s of seconds to several years. Analysis of glacial earthquakes suggests that significant volumes of ice may move at speeds 1000 times faster than their average annual velocities for periods of a minute or two and a doubling of average annual flow speeds over only a few years has been observed at some glaciers. Multiple observations now indicate that glacier flow behavior can respond quickly to environmental changes, including rapid climate change. It is not currently clear, however, what mechanisms or combination of mechanisms allow for, or drive, the temporal variations, nor is it clear how variations in flow behavior at different timescales are related to one another. Understanding the changes in force balance that control variations across the range of timescales from minutes to years requires observations at higher resolution in both space and time than are currently available, and achieving a comprehensive picture of the interactions between short- and long-timescale processes, and between external forcings and glacier flow behavior, requires the integration of data and expertise from several traditionally separate disciplines.. Intellectual Merit. The research will lead to a greatly improved understanding of the dynamics of flow at the large, fast-moving outlet glaciers that drain the Greenland ice sheet and of the temporal variability in their rates and modes of flow. It will provide insight into the processes controlling glacial earthquakes and possible connections between glacial-earthquake activity and global climate change.Broader Impacts. Understanding the controls on flow configuration at major outlet glaciers, and the timescales over which they may respond to climatic forcing, is of great importance for proper modeling of systems affected by the transfer of fresh polar meltwater to the world's oceans. A better understanding of glacier and ice-sheet response to climate change will allow for improvements in modeling of the coupled ice ocean atmosphere system, and of its interactions with the solid Earth. The geodetic instrumentation and processing techniques developed under this proposal will benefit researchers in a variety of environments such as glacier and volcano monitoring involving rapid, large-scale motions and the risk of instrument loss.

主要研究人员请求支持一项跨学科的高分辨率研究，该研究涉及格陵兰岛两个最大的出口冰川的遥感和实地调查。对赫尔海姆冰川和康格尔德卢格苏瓦克冰川的研究将整合地震学、冰川学和大地测量学观测，以了解主要出口冰川的流动动态，这些冰川代表了大气圈、冰冻圈和水圈之间的关键交汇点。该项目将是全球定位系统接收器网络第一次长期占用一个出口冰川，并将解决地震对年际时间尺度的流量变化问题。 最近的发现清楚地表明，我们对大型出口冰川流动动力学的理解是有限的，不足以理解出口冰川及其排出的冰盖对外部强迫的反应方式。流出冰川流中可能发生显著速度变化的时间尺度范围似乎比以前认为的要宽得多，在10秒到几年的时间尺度上发生显著变化。对冰川地震的分析表明，大量的冰可能以比平均年速度快1000倍的速度移动，持续一两分钟，在一些冰川上观察到平均年流速在短短几年内翻了一番。多项观测结果表明，冰川流动行为可以对环境变化（包括快速气候变化）做出快速反应。然而，目前尚不清楚哪些机制或机制组合允许或驱动时间变化，也不清楚不同时间尺度上的流动行为变化如何相互关联。要了解控制从几分钟到几年的时间尺度变化的力平衡变化，就需要在空间和时间上进行比目前更高分辨率的观测，并全面了解短时间尺度和长时间尺度过程之间的相互作用，以及外部强迫和冰川流动行为之间的相互作用，需要整合来自几个传统独立学科的数据和专业知识。智力优势。这项研究将大大提高对格陵兰冰盖流失的大型快速流动出口冰川的流动动态及其流动速率和模式的时间变化的理解。它将深入了解控制冰川地震的过程以及冰川地震活动与全球气候变化之间的可能联系。了解流动配置的控制在主要出口冰川，和时间尺度，他们可能会对气候强迫作出反应，是非常重要的适当的模拟系统的影响转移到世界的海洋的新鲜极地融水。更好地了解冰川和冰盖对气候变化的反应将有助于改进耦合冰海洋大气系统及其与固体地球相互作用的建模。根据这一提议开发的大地测量仪器和处理技术将使研究人员在各种环境中受益，如涉及快速、大规模运动和仪器丢失风险的冰川和火山监测。