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As I noted above - curious that the terminus is back top approx where it was in 2005.
why would not one expect that the general trend would be downward, during hundreds of years of GW? One knows that in the 350-450 yrs preceding that, the general trend was going the other way.
Large calving video from Jun 22Live Science: Dramatic Video Captures Moment Towering Iceberg Splits from Greenland Glacier.https://www.livescience.com/63008-greenland-glacier-births-iceberg-video.html
Helheim Gletscher update:As you can see in the animation below, Helheim Gletscher is calving and retreating into new record lows:
Iceberg Calving and Meltwater Plumes at Helheim Glacier, Visualized in High-Resolution Satellite ImageryAbstractIce-cliff failure through calving of large icebergs may cause rapid retreat of outlet glaciers and destabilization of inland ice sheets. An improved understanding of calving mechanisms at ice cliffs is of critical importance to better constrain ice-sheet models and sea-level projections. Helheim Glacier, a tidewater glacier on Greenland’s eastern coast, terminates in a ~100-m-tall ice cliff with an ice-mélange choked fjord in front. Icebergs calved at Helheim are primarily non-tabular bergs which, if extending the entire terminus thickness, generate globally-detectable glacial earthquakes during calving. Some wider tabular icebergs, which remain floating upright, also calve without producing such large glacial earthquakes. An additional process occurring at Helheim’s calving front involves surface meltwater pooling and the appearance of meltwater-plume-fed polynyas in the mélange. The timing and locations of polynyas, subglacial drainage, calving behavior, and glacial earthquake occurrence are all associated processes that influence Helheim’s grounding state, yet limited observational data focusing on the linkages between these processes exists. Here we utilize high-resolution DigitalGlobe optical imagery to observe temporal variability in iceberg morphology and meltwater features and compare these observations with the glacial earthquake record. Meltwater features often appear in consistent positions, suggesting that fjord geometry and the resulting glacier topography have a controlling influence on their spatial persistence. Surface pooling appears more extreme when no polynya is present, so these features are likely linked. Non-tabular iceberg calving and associated glacial earthquakes can occur even when no polynya is present, yet polynya appearance suggests a channelized subglacial drainage system and hence indicates a grounded or near-grounded front. These targeted observations will inform more generalized modeling of ice-cliff retreat, as Helheim’s terminus behavior may serve as an analogue to processes at the future glacial margins of Antarctica after removal of ice shelves by warming ocean waters. Unstable ice cliffs could cause retreat into the deep Antarctic basins containing vast volumes of ice with the potential to contribute several meters to global sea level.
That´s some really dark colour on the bottom of the picture.
Espen,Thanks for bringing these crisp pictures to the forefront of our imagination. They document very well what we are losing at the moment.Just a minor language thing. It is not the glaciers, which are retreating. It is the retreating glacier fronts, which are of concern. Unless we tidy up our description of the real world out there, how on earth should journalists and policy-makers be able to tell the difference.Glaciers move forward/downhill all the time, thus they never retreat. Glacier fronts retreat.
Espen,how on earth should journalists and policy-makers be able to tell the difference.
