Ocean-Ice Interactions in Inglefield Gulf: Early Results from NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland Mission

Abstract

Tracy and Heilprin, marine-terminating glaciers that drain into the eastern end of Inglefield Gulf in northwest Greenland, exhibit remarkably different behaviors despite being adjacent systems. Losing mass since 1892, Tracy Glacier has dramatically accelerated, thinned, and retreated. Heilprin has retreated only slightly during the last century and has remained almost stationary in the most recent decade. Previous studies suggest that Tracy’s base is deeper than Heilprin’s at the calving front (over 600 m, as opposed to the 350 m depth at Heilprin), which exposes it to warmer subsurface waters, resulting in more rapid retreat. We investigate the local oceanographic conditions in Inglefield Gulf and their interactions with Tracy and Heilprin using data collected in 2016 and 2017 as part of NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland mission. Based on improved estimates of the fjord geometry and 20 temperature and salinity profiles near the fronts of these two glaciers, we find clear evidence that fjord waters are modified by ocean-ice interactions with Tracy Glacier. We find that Tracy thinned by 9.9 m near its terminus between 2016 and 2017, while Heilprin thinned by only 1.8 m. Using a simple subglacial plume model, we find that Tracy’s deeper depth at the front results in a more vigorous entrainment of warm subsurface waters, leading to more rapid melting. Model results support the hypothesis that Tracy’s deeper front results in faster glacier retreat, despite the presence of a shallow sill (~300 m) that may prevent the warmest waters from reaching Tracy.

Keywords

• OMG
• Oceans Melting Greenland
• Greenland
• Tracy glacier
• Heilprin