Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher / Kangerdluqssuaq / East Greenland

[Espen]

Another one of the great glaciers of Greenland, Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher is showing some sizable calving:

[Espen]

Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher update:

[Espen]

43 year update Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher, first image in the animation show the letters T= Thinning and R= Retreat: All images are from September 1972 and 2014.

[Espen]

The debris left over from the calvings at Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher are pretty impresive, this "tooth" is about 1 km (1000 m) thick:

[Shared Humanity]

As always....thank you for these wonderful detailed views of the destruction.

[Espen]

The speed is up at Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher, moving at 23 meters per 24 hrs between March 3 and March 28 2015:

[Shared Humanity]

Is that an ice cap on the northeast side of the calving front? If so, would its ongoing melt cause a speedup of the glacier as the cap  recedes from the glacier?

[Espen]

Is that an ice cap on the northeast side of the calving front? If so, would its ongoing melt cause a speedup of the glacier as the cap  recedes from the glacier?

Without knowing, my guess it is pretty grounded there?

[Espen]

Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher is really on the move these days, moving between 35 and 40 meters / 24 hrs. on average between March 28 and April 4 2015:

[Shared Humanity]

Looking at  this latest image, I am still curious about the ice that is north of the glacier. It looks  as if  this  ice cap? has receded from the glacier where it comes into contact with the water. What appears to be an area of open  water and melange is adjacent to this  ice. It also looks as if the calving front of the glacier is very near where the ice cap? has pulled away from the glacier. Could we expect this edge of the grounded ice cap?, nearest the water, to continue  to  recede  and the calving front to follow?

[oren]

35-40 m/day sounds to me quite impressive, especially at this time of year. Is there any comparison to past speeds?

[Espen]

Looking at  this latest image, I am still curious about the ice that is north of the glacier. It looks  as if  this  ice cap? has receded from the glacier where it comes into contact with the water. What appears to be an area of open  water and melange is adjacent to this  ice. It also looks as if the calving front of the glacier is very near where the ice cap? has pulled away from the glacier. Could we expect this edge of the grounded ice cap?, nearest the water, to continue  to  recede  and the calving front to follow?

You can see the "icecap" receded over the last 43 years here: http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,949.msg48349.html#msg48349

[Espen]

35-40 m/day sounds to me quite impressive, especially at this time of year. Is there any comparison to past speeds?

Yes it is an impressive speed especially considering the season. I am also suspecting it to have one of the greatest glacier-ice-thickness in Greenland.

[oren]

According to a 2012 paper by Rignot the speed of Kangerdluqssuaq in 2008-9 was 8.1 km/y, translating to 22 m/day on average

[Espen]

According to a 2012 paper by Rignot the speed of Kangerdluqssuaq in 2008-9 was 8.1 km/y, translating to 22 m/day on average

Maybe that is old news now.
Average / day / year probably is different than average / day / week

[Rubikscube]

I recall seeing similar numbers (8,1k a year) from a 2014 paper linked in the Jakobshavn thread. Maybe its the same measurements, but 35-40 m/day at this time of the year still seems very fast. About a doubling in annual average speed I would presume.

[Espen]

Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher continues its extreme speed:

[Espen]

Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher is preparing a serious calving:

[ghoti]

Some people returning to Sweden from the Petermann expedition posted this photo of  Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher

https://instagram.com/p/7RLvliD5LW/

[Espen]

Kangerdluqssuaq Gletscher update, despite the traditional hibernation for glaciers:

Click on image to enlarge and animate!

[DrTskoul]

Let the calvings proceed...

[Shared Humanity]

Espen. On that animation, what is the nature of the much darker ice that is north of the rapidly moving and dramatically calving ice stream? You can see it calving as well but it seems to be behaving differently.

[magnamentis]

Espen. On that animation, what is the nature of the much darker ice that is north of the rapidly moving and dramatically calving ice stream? You can see it calving as well but it seems to be behaving differently.

that ice seams to be blocked by the topography at it's end on the very right of the image, while the mainstream got detached and flows unhindered.  it's some kind of a narrows.

[Espen]

Espen. On that animation, what is the nature of the much darker ice that is north of the rapidly moving and dramatically calving ice stream? You can see it calving as well but it seems to be behaving differently.

That is bedrock ice!

[Shared Humanity]

Espen. On that animation, what is the nature of the much darker ice that is north of the rapidly moving and dramatically calving ice stream? You can see it calving as well but it seems to be behaving differently.

That is bedrock ice!

Wow! That has to be very thick.

[iwantatr8]

There's been a few changes since we last looked at this:
Change is Jan 2017 to Aug 2018 - Needs a click to animate

For current events:
https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/sentinel-playground/?source=S2&lat=68.60739381143291&lng=-32.784576416015625&zoom=11&preset=1_NATURAL_COL0R&layers=B01,B02,B03&maxcc=95&gain=0.4&gamma=1.0&time=2015-01-01%7C2018-08-04&atmFilter=&showDates=false

[oren]

Wow. That's quite the retreat, ~3km.
An interesting tidbit - there appears to be more snow in August now than there was in January last year.

[Eli81]

An interesting tidbit - there appears to be more snow in August now than there was in January last year.

I noticed this as well.

[Stephan]

Thank you iwantatr for this animation. It is quite a big difference.

[sidd]

Interesting paper at cryosphere-discuss tying recent retreat to warming waters in the fjord. Warns that grounding line is about to retreat over a big hole. "Runaway retreat" is the term used.

Open access, read all about it:

https://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/tc-2018-260/

sidd