The interaction between fjord waters and marine-terminating glaciers is a key component of Polar glaciological, oceanographic and ecological systems. When glaciers discharge ice, meltwater and sediments into fjords, the salinity, density and temperature of the fjord water change impacting the fjord circulation, nutrient fluxes and the ecosystem dynamics. Likewise, fjord conditions, such as temperature and salinity, impact glacier dynamics, affecting calving front behaviour, grounding line stability and subglacial melting. These interactions can accelerate glacier retreat or enhance melt. Thus, glacier-fjord processes are key to understanding how glaciers influence the polar marine environment ultimately impacting human livelihoods.
The fjord-ice interface is characterised by a range of complex processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales, that are not easily captured in large-scale models used for climate projections. Similarly, observations from the inaccessible polar environment remain limited, particularly outside the summer season leading to biased observational evidence and a poor understanding of wintertime ice-fjord dynamics.
This session aims to bring together observational and process studies, numerical modelling efforts and impact assessments. We welcome contributions addressing any or all aspects of glacier-fjord interactions such as ocean boundaries, fjord circulation, nutrient fluxes, ice/ocean parameterisations, glacier front dynamics, calving processes, atmospheric effects, impacts on ecosystems and societal consequences. We aim to bring together scientists working across all latitudes ranging from the high Arctic to the Antarctic including the glacier systems of Svalbard, Alaska and Patagonia.
Solicited speaker: Andrea Kneib-Walter, University of Zurich, Switzerland.