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

更好地预测格陵兰岛未来的质量损失对于解决海平面上升和北大西洋新生等全球关注的问题至关重要。 由于对终止于峡湾海洋沃茨的冰川表面发生的过程缺乏了解，这种预测受到阻碍。 在这样的地方收集数据是困难和危险的，因为冰川是间歇性的崩解冰山。 利用其他资金，参与该项目的科学家从格陵兰岛冰川表面附近收集了两个独特的数据集，并建议分析这些数据。 一个成功的和有见地的项目将改变我们建模和观察这些地区的方式。 该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，他们将受益于在这个跨学科科学项目中使用的各种方法。在本项目期间，将在麻省理工学院博物馆举办一个多媒体冰盖/海洋相互作用展览，沿着项目人员在博物馆举办两次公共讲座，专门向公众广泛传播研究方法和科学。其边缘的特点是湍流羽流喂养冰下放电，以及更多的静止区域。这些数据是使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设备在100米范围内的独特测量结果。海洋特性和速度数据将用于描述近冰动态的空间和时间变异性，并将与现有理论进行比较。这一分析将辅之以冰川学、气象学和气候模型数据，以限制锋面位置、集水面积、冰川速度、地表融水产生和径流。一个关键的目标是表征参数制度，以约束未来的建模。第二个目标是评价利用新技术克服该区域观测挑战的情况并提供反馈，这是今后海洋学和冰川学调查的一项要求。

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.