Samspel mellan Atlantvatten i Arktis och norra Grönlands inlandsis i ett långtids perspektiv

This project investigates interactions between Arctic Atlantic Water (AW) and North Greenland´s outlet glaciers and their floating ice tongues over timescales ranging from decades to millennia.

Ryder Glacier with Greenland´s third largest ice tongue is the focus, which was for the first time surveyed by icebreaker Oden during the Ryder 2019 Expedition.

Capitalising on this unique data we will examine feedbacks between fjord-ice geometry and circulation of crucial importance for ice tongues´ dynamics and their capacity to buttress inland icestreams.

The AW temperature is a key for the future evolution of the outlet glaciers, and we will study mechanisms controlling the AW flow from the deep Arctic to North Greenland.

The research project is based on ocean-circulation and glacial modelling in combination with observations, including the new critical Ryder 2019 data.

The project involves a PI, a postdoc and four strategic partners with expertise in ocean and glacial modelling and marine geology. Sea-level rise associated with global warming is a serious threat to society.

North Greenland´s Ice Sheet holds one meter of sea level and is of great importance for future sea-level rise: if its glaciers lose their buttressing ice tongues they can begin to flow as rapidly as their counterparts further south.

Here, the Ryder data provide critical information that will be used to examine fundamental ocean-glacier dynamics of central importance for future sea-level rise.