Greenland Ice Sheet Development in the Northeast Baffin Bay Derived From Geo-Morphology Analysis

English Abstract:

Understanding the advance and retreat history of the northwest Greenland Ice Sheet (nwGIS) and its interactions with the oceanic circulation is substantial to understand and predict its future development. During past climate warming events, the nwGIS underwent significant changes and its glaciers accelerated with major contribution to global sea level. Analyses of glacigenic seabed features, visible in high resolution bathymetric data, can provide information for the reconstruction of the history of ice sheets and thus can be applied to give insights into the past development of the nwGIS.

Already lower resolution bathymetry (e.g.the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean IBCAO), shows distinct cross-shelf troughs of glacial origin in the northeast Baffin Bay. High resolution multibeam and sub-bottom echosounder data collected during RV Polarstern cruises ARK-XXIII/3 (2008) and ARK-XXV/3 (2010) enhance the bathymetry in this areas and give a better understanding of the glacial processes on the northeast Baffin Bay shelf and slope. During the research cruise MerMet13-48 scheduled for July 2015, additional high resolution multibeam mapping surveys are planned for troughs and inter-trough areas in the Melville Bugt in northeast Baffin Bay.

First results from sub-bottom and multibeam echosounder data show stacked debris flows building up glacial trough mouth fans, stratified deep-sea sediments, iceberg scours and mega-scale glacial lineations on the respective continental rise and shelf. Geo-statistical analyses of these features indicate ice stream developments and ice sheet groundings, advances and retreats in this area. Geo-morphological assessment on various scales further help to reconstruct the glacial history of the northwest Greenland Ice Sheet in order to model its future development.