EESS talk on "Greenland subglacial hydrology in conduits and into fjords"
Event details
| Date | 08.03.2016 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | Dr Ken Mankoff, research associate, Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, USA |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
Ice sheets and glaciers are changing rapidly as the climate warms. Unfortunately, the boundaries that primarily control the system – the glacier bed and the ice/ocean margin – are difficult to observe. In this talk I present observations of a glacier bed collected in a subglacial conduit and of the ice/ocean boundary at the calving edge of a Greenland glacier. To collect data under the glacier we used ~500 CHF of equipment to build a 3D model used in a computational fluid dynamics model. To collect data in the subglacial outflow plume at the marine edge we used a remote-controlled Jetski-powered kayak. Results from under the glacier show that traditional treatments of roughness (and therefore heat transfer to the glacier bed) may be invalid due to the size of rocks at the glacier bed. Results from the marine edge show that a) most of the meltwater in the fjord comes from the ice front outside the plume region and b) melt rate cannot be diagnosed using only traditional oceanographic measurements.
Short biography:
Dr Mankoff is a research associate at the Pennsylvania State University Department of Geosciences where he studies ice sheet hydrology, ice/ocean interactions, and ice-proximal oceanography using a combination of observational fieldwork, low-cost robotic vehicles, remote sensing and novel sensors and algorithms.
His research spans the path of a drop of water from when it melts on the surface (or at the base) of the ice sheet, flows through and under the ice sheet, and is exhausted into a Greenland fjord or under an Antarctic ice shelf. The water is then one half of the ice/ocean boundary, and this freshwater flux is increasing in the warming climate. Further downstream, the meltwater modifies fjord properties and coastal seas, changing oceanic and ice conditions.
Ice sheets and glaciers are changing rapidly as the climate warms. Unfortunately, the boundaries that primarily control the system – the glacier bed and the ice/ocean margin – are difficult to observe. In this talk I present observations of a glacier bed collected in a subglacial conduit and of the ice/ocean boundary at the calving edge of a Greenland glacier. To collect data under the glacier we used ~500 CHF of equipment to build a 3D model used in a computational fluid dynamics model. To collect data in the subglacial outflow plume at the marine edge we used a remote-controlled Jetski-powered kayak. Results from under the glacier show that traditional treatments of roughness (and therefore heat transfer to the glacier bed) may be invalid due to the size of rocks at the glacier bed. Results from the marine edge show that a) most of the meltwater in the fjord comes from the ice front outside the plume region and b) melt rate cannot be diagnosed using only traditional oceanographic measurements.
Short biography:
Dr Mankoff is a research associate at the Pennsylvania State University Department of Geosciences where he studies ice sheet hydrology, ice/ocean interactions, and ice-proximal oceanography using a combination of observational fieldwork, low-cost robotic vehicles, remote sensing and novel sensors and algorithms.
His research spans the path of a drop of water from when it melts on the surface (or at the base) of the ice sheet, flows through and under the ice sheet, and is exhausted into a Greenland fjord or under an Antarctic ice shelf. The water is then one half of the ice/ocean boundary, and this freshwater flux is increasing in the warming climate. Further downstream, the meltwater modifies fjord properties and coastal seas, changing oceanic and ice conditions.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Dr Hendrik Huwald, CRYOS