Oceans Take Heat to Glaciers

Hydro International -

The role ocean circulation plays in transporting heat to glaciers is highlighted in new research by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). A research team led by WHOI physical oceanographer Fiamma Straneo discovered warm, subtropical waters deep inside Sermilik Fjord at the base of Helheim Glacier in 2009.

Greenland's ice sheet has lost mass at an accelerated rate over the last decade, dumping more ice and fresh water into the ocean. Between 2001 and 2005, Helheim Glacier, a large glacier on Greenland’s southeast coast, retreated 5 miles (8 kilometres) and its flow speed nearly doubled.

The team returned to Greenland in March 2010, to do the first-ever winter survey of the fjord. Using a tiny boat and a helicopter, Straneo and her colleague, Kjetil Våge of University of Bergen, Norway, were able to launch probes closer to the glacier than ever before, about 2.5 miles away from the glacier’s edge. Coupled with data from August 2009, details began to emerge of a complicated interaction between glacier ice, freshwater runoff and warm, salty ocean waters.

The fjords contain cold, fresh Arctic water on top and warm, salty waters from the Gulf Stream at the bottom. Melted waters do rise somewhat, but not all the way to the top.

Read more...

Posted via http://batavia08.posterous.com batavia08's posterous