Ocean Properties and Submarine Melt of Ice Shelves in a High-Arctic Fiord (Milne Fiord)

Abstract:

The role of ambient stratification, the vertical distribution of heat, and fiord circulation on submarine melt rates in glacial fiords in the Canadian Arctic are largely unknown despite recent widespread collapse of ice shelves in this region. A 3-year field study was conducted to investigate ocean influence on ice loss from an ice shelf and glacier tongue in Milne Fiord (82^oN), Ellesmere Island. Direct ocean observations of the sub-ice cavities from through-ice profiles showed a vertically stratified water column consisting of a perennial fresh ice-dammed epishelf lake at the surface, above cold relatively fresh Polar Water, and warm saline waters from the upper halocline of the Atlantic layer at depth. The broad continental shelf and a topographic sill prevented the warmest waters of the Atlantic layer from entering the 450 m deep fiord. Meltwater concentrations were highest near the glacier grounding line, with meltwater exported at depth due to the strong ambient stratification. There was little evidence of increased buoyancy-driven melt in summer from subglacial discharge as observed in sub-Arctic fiords (e.g. southern Greenland), suggesting that circulation in high-latitude fiords is largely melt-driven convection with less pronounced seasonality. Basal melt rates estimated using three methods, meltwater flux, divergence of ice flux, and an ocean thermodynamic model, were broadly consistent. Average melt rates of 0.75 ± 0.46 m a^-1 and 1.14 ± 0.83 m a^-1 were found for the Milne Ice Shelf and Milne Glacier Tongue, respectively, although showed high spatial variability. The highest melt rates (~4 m a^-1) were found near the glacier grounding line and were driven by warm upper halocline waters. Similar melt rates occurred in near-surface waters driven by solar heating of the epishelf lake, enhancing melt along the margins of the glacier tongue and the landward edge of the ice shelf. The Milne Ice Shelf and Milne Glacier Tongue are in a state of negative mass balance; with submarine ice melt accounting for the majority of mass loss over the duration of the study. Submarine melt rates in this region are influenced by the thickness (and presence) of the epishelf lake, and are sensitive to external changes in the Arctic Ocean, including variations in the depth of the upper halocline and the heat content of polar surface waters.