Linking Glacier Discharge and Ocean Circulation at the Edge of a Tidewater Glacier Using New Measurement Techniques

改进对格陵兰岛未来大规模损失的预测对于解决全球关注的问题至关重要，例如海平面上升和北大西洋的新鲜。由于对冰川表面发生的过程缺乏了解，这些过程终止于峡湾的海水，因此这种预测受到阻碍。在这些地区收集数据既困难又危险，因为冰川会间歇性地崩解冰山。利用其他资金，参与该项目的科学家们从格陵兰岛冰川表面附近收集了两组独特的数据，并建议分析这些数据。一个成功且富有洞察力的项目将改变我们对这些地区进行建模和观察的方式。这个项目汇集了一个由海洋学家、冰川学家和工程师组成的跨学科团队，其中包括一名研究生和一名博士后助理，他们将从这个跨学科科学项目中使用的各种方法中受益。在本项目期间，麻省理工学院博物馆将举办一个多媒体冰原/海洋相互作用展览，同时由项目人员举办两次公共博物馆讲座，将为研究方法和科学提供专门和广泛的公众传播。所提出的工作将提供西格陵兰岛一个中型冰川的冰/海洋边界层动力学的详细描述，其边缘的特征是由冰下流量提供的湍流羽流，以及更多的静止区域。这些数据是利用私人资金在两个夏季（其中一个夏季融化异常）收集的，包括两辆自动驾驶汽车（一辆在水面上，一辆在水下）和直升机部署的系泊处在冰前沿100米范围内进行的独特测量。海洋性质和速度数据将用于表征近冰动力学的时空变异性，并将与现有理论进行比较。这一分析将辅以冰川学、气象和气候模式数据，以限制锋面位置、集水区大小、冰川速度、地表融水产量和径流。一个关键的目标是表征参数状态，以便约束未来的建模。第二个目标是评估和提供关于利用新技术克服该区域观测挑战的反馈，这是未来海洋学和冰川学调查的需要。

Improved predictions of future mass loss from Greenland are essential to resolving issues of global concern, such as sea-level rise and the freshening of the North Atlantic. Such predictions are hampered by a poor understanding of processes occurring at the face of glaciers that terminate in the marine waters of fjords. Data collection in such locales is difficult and dangerous, because the glaciers are intermittently calving icebergs. Using other funding, the scientists involved in this project have collected two unique data sets from near a glacier face in Greenland and propose to analyze these data. A successful and insightful project will transform the manner in which we model and observe these regions. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of oceanographers, glaciologists and engineers, including a graduate student and a post-doctoral associate who will benefit from exposure to the diverse methods to be used in this interdisciplinary science project. A multimedia Ice Sheet / Ocean Interaction exhibit at the MIT Museum to run for the duration of this project, along with two public museum lectures by project personnel, will provide dedicated and widely accessible public dissemination of the research methodology and science.The proposed work will provide a detailed description of the dynamics within the ice/ocean boundary layer of a medium-sized glacier in west Greenland, whose margins are characterized by turbulent plumes fed by subglacial discharge, as well as more quiescent regions. The data, collected over two summer seasons (one with exceptional melt) using private funds, include unique measurements within 100 m of the ice front taken from two autonomous vehicles (one surface and one underwater) and moorings deployed by helicopter. Ocean property and velocity data will be used to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of the near-ice dynamics and will be compared with existing theories. This analysis will be complemented by glaciological, meteorological and climate model data to constrain the frontal position, catchment size, glacier velocity, surface meltwater production and runoff. A key objective is to characterize the parameter regime in order to constrain future modeling. A second objective is to evaluate and provide feedback on the use of new technology to overcome the challenges of observations in this region, a requirement for future oceanographic and glaciological investigations.