Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Published Online June 6, 2002
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1072708

Research Articles

Submitted on April 9, 2002
Accepted on May 30, 2002

Surface Melt-Induced Acceleration of Greenland Ice-Sheet Flow

H. Jay Zwally 1*, Waleed Abdalati 2, Tom Herring 3, Kristine Larson 4, Jack Saba 5, Konrad Steffen 6

1 Oceans and Ice Branch, Code 971, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
2 Code YS, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20546, USA.
3 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT Room 54-618, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
4 Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
5 Raytheon Inc., Code 971, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
6 CIRES, University of Colorado, CB 216, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jay.zwally{at}gsfc.nasa.gov.

Ice flow at a location in the equilibrium zone of the west-central Greenland ice sheet accelerates above the mid-winter average rate of 31.3 cm/day during periods of summer melting. The near coincidence of the ice acceleration with the duration of surface melting, followed by deceleration after the melting ceases, indicates that glacial sliding is enhanced by rapid migration of surface melt water to the ice-bedrock interface. Interannual variations in the ice acceleration are correlated with variations in the intensity of the surface melting, from a 1.5 cm/day velocity increase during the low-melt summer of 1996, to 3.8 cm/day in the average-melt summer of 1997, and to 8.8 cm/day and 7.3 cm/day increases during the high-melt summers of 1998 and 1999. The indicated coupling between surface melting and ice-sheet flow provides a mechanism for rapid large-scale dynamic response of ice sheets to climate warming.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Partitioning Recent Greenland Mass Loss.
M. van den Broeke, J. Bamber, J. Ettema, E. Rignot, E. Schrama, W. J. van de Berg, E. van Meijgaard, I. Velicogna, and B. Wouters (2009)
Science 326, 984-986
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Progress in satellite remote sensing of ice sheets.
D.J. Quincey and A. Luckman (2009)
Progress in Physical Geography 33, 547-567
   Abstract »    PDF »
Facing future climate change: is the past relevant?.
L. Skinner (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc A 366, 4627-4645
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Large and Rapid Melt-Induced Velocity Changes in the Ablation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
R. S. W. van de Wal, W. Boot, M. R. van den Broeke, C. J. P. P. Smeets, C. H. Reijmer, J. J. A. Donker, and J. Oerlemans (2008)
Science 321, 111-113
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seasonal Speedup Along the Western Flank of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
I. Joughin, S. B. Das, M. A. King, B. E. Smith, I. M. Howat, and T. Moon (2008)
Science 320, 781-783
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fracture Propagation to the Base of the Greenland Ice Sheet During Supraglacial Lake Drainage.
S. B. Das, I. Joughin, M. D. Behn, I. M. Howat, M. A. King, D. Lizarralde, and M. P. Bhatia (2008)
Science 320, 778-781
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Estimating the potential for twenty-first century sudden climate change.
D. Shindell (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc A 365, 2675-2694
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Recent Sea-Level Contributions of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets.
A. Shepherd and D. Wingham (2007)
Science 315, 1529-1532
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Water-content of Glacier-ice: Limitations on Estimates from Velocity Analysis of Surface Ground-penetrating Radar Surveys.
T. Murray, A. Booth, and D. M. Rippin (2007)
Journal of Environmental & Engineering Geophysics 12, 87-99
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Semi-Empirical Approach to Projecting Future Sea-Level Rise.
S. Rahmstorf (2007)
Science 315, 368-370
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sea levels: change and variability during warm intervals.
R. Edwards (2006)
Progress in Physical Geography 30, 785-796
   PDF »
Glaciers.
D. I. Benn (2006)
Progress in Physical Geography 30, 432-442
   PDF »
Subglacial bedrock welding associated with glacial earthquakes.
M. Bestmann, A.H.N. Rice, F. Langenhorst, B. Grasemann, and F. Heidelbach (2006)
Journal of the Geological Society 163, 417-420
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Paleoclimatic evidence for future ice-sheet instability and rapid sea-level rise..
J. T. Overpeck, B. L. Otto-Bliesner, G. H. Miller, D. R. Muhs, R. B. Alley, and J. T. Kiehl (2006)
Science 311, 1747-1750
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seasonality and increasing frequency of Greenland glacial earthquakes..
G. Ekstrom, M. Nettles, and V. C. Tsai (2006)
Science 311, 1756-1758
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The last deglaciation of the southeastern sector of the Scandinavian ice sheet..
V. R. Rinterknecht, P. U. Clark, G. M. Raisbeck, F. Yiou, A. Bitinas, E. J. Brook, L. Marks, V. Zelcs, J.-P. Lunkka, I. E. Pavlovskaya, et al. (2006)
Science 311, 1449-1452
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in the velocity structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet..
E. Rignot and P. Kanagaratnam (2006)
Science 311, 986-990
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level Changes.
R. B. Alley, P. U. Clark, P. Huybrechts, and I. Joughin (2005)
Science 310, 456-460
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Climate change impacts are sensitive to the concentration stabilization path.
B. C. O'Neill and M. Oppenheimer (2004)
PNAS 101, 16411-16416
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Soot climate forcing via snow and ice albedos.
J. Hansen and L. Nazarenko (2004)
PNAS 101, 423-428
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Glacial Earthquakes.
G. Ekstrom, M. Nettles, and G. A. Abers (2003)
Science 302, 622-624
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Glacier Surge After Ice Shelf Collapse.
H. De Angelis and P. Skvarca (2003)
Science 299, 1560-1562
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Recent Earth Oblateness Variations: Unraveling Climate and Postglacial Rebound Effects.
J. O. Dickey, S. L. Marcus, O. de Viron, and I. Fukumori (2002)
Science 298, 1975-1977
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mass Balance of Polar Ice Sheets.
E. Rignot and R. H. Thomas (2002)
Science 297, 1502-1506
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)