title: Aerial photographs reveal late-20th-century dynamic ice loss in northwestern Greenland.
abstract: Global warming is predicted to have a profound impact on the Greenland Ice Sheet and its contribution to global sea-level rise. Recent mass loss in the northwest of Greenland has been substantial. Using aerial photographs, we produced digital elevation models and extended the time record of recent observed marginal dynamic thinning back to the mid-1980s. We reveal two independent dynamic ice loss events on the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet margin: from 1985 to 1993 and 2005 to 2010, which were separated by limited mass changes. Our results suggest that the ice mass changes in this sector were primarily caused by short-lived dynamic ice loss events rather than changes in the surface mass balance. This finding challenges predictions about the future response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to increasing global temperatures.
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. kurtk@snm.ku.dk
authors.forename: Kurt H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kjær
authors.forename: Shfaqat A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Niels J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Korsgaard
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wahr
authors.forename: Jonathan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bamber
authors.forename: Ruud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hurkmans
authors.forename: Michiel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van den Broeke
authors.forename: Lars H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Timm
authors.forename: Kristian K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kjeldsen
authors.forename: Anders A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bjørk
authors.forename: Nicolaj K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Lars Tyge
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Færch-Jensen
authors.forename: Eske
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Willerslev
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D057232:Global Warming; D006116:Greenland; D046448:Ice Cover; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010781:Photography