Call for Abstracts
American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2005 Fall Meeting
Session C 09: "The Dynamics of Glacier System Response: Tidewater
Glaciers and the Ice Streams and Outlet Glaciers of Greenland and
Antarctica"
5-9 December 2005
San Francisco, California
Abstract Submissions Open: Tuesday, 26 July 2005
Abstract Submission Deadline: Thursday, 8 September 2005
For further information on the AGU 2005 Fall Meeting, please go to:
http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm05/
Dear Colleague,
We would like to draw your attention to the following special session at
this year's AGU Fall Meeting:
C09: The Dynamics of Glacier System Response: Tidewater Glaciers and the Ice
Streams and Outlet Glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica
Session Description:
The spatially heterogeneous and non-linear behavior of glacier systems
is very well known, but the full implications of these complexities for
the response of glaciers and ice sheets to climate forcing are still
emerging. In particular, certain glaciers are known to experience rapid
changes in geometry and total volume independent of direct mass balance
forcing, one of the best examples being the cyclic advance and retreat
of tidewater glaciers, studied first in coastal Alaska and
conceptualized forty years ago by Austin Post. Another location where
comparable behavior has been studied is at Jakobshavn Isbrae in West
Greenland. The recent observations of substantial increases in speed on
the Antarctic outlet glaciers once buttressed by the Larson B Ice Shelf
strongly suggest that similar dynamic responses are possible for
Antarctica as well. Ice streams and outlet glaciers exert a major
control on the evolution and mass balance of ice fields and ice sheets.
Observations such as those at the former Larsen B Ice Shelf have
revealed that some Antarctic ice streams and outlet glaciers are
undergoing changes probably too rapid to be caused by increased melt
alone and are most likely the result of changes in ice dynamics. It may
be expected that these will modulate the transfer of ice from the
interior regions to the oceans and that the response of Antarctica to
climate change may not be only through mass balance forcing. Insights
into the potential for this type of dynamic response on the large ice
sheets may be gained by considering the analogies between their behavior
and episodic tidewater glacier retreat.
This session seeks to bring the ice sheet and glacier community together
to look at the dynamics of ice streams, outlet glaciers, and tidewater
glaciers. In particular, we invite contributions that explore the
potentially large changes in thickness and dynamics far upstream from
the ice-ocean interface, the processes controlling tidewater glacier
retreat, the potential for tidewater-style response in ice sheet outlet
systems, and the possibility that tidewater glaciers serve as useful
analogues of outlet glaciers. This session will focus on new
observations, both field-based and from remote-sensing studies, as well
as theoretical and numerical models furthering our understanding of the
dynamics of these glacial systems. We also invite contributions relevant
to iceberg calving and regional contribution to sea level rise.
Conveners:
Martin Truffer
University of Alaska Fairbanks
903 Koyukuk Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320
truffer [at] gi.alaska.edu
Mark Fahnestock
University of New Hampshire
39 College Road
Durham, NH 03824-3525
mark.fahnestock [at] unh.edu
Cornelis Jakob van der Veen
Byrd Polar Research Center - Ohio State University
108 Scott Hall
1090 Carmack Road
Columbus, OH 43210
vanderveen.1 [at] osu.edu
Edward Hanna
University of Sheffield
Department of Geography
Winter Street
Sheffield, UK
GBR SN10 2TN
ehanna [at] sheffield.ac.uk
Tavi Murray
University of Wales Swansea, Department of Geography
Singleton Park
Swansea, UK
GBR SA2 8PP
t.murray [at] swansea.ac.uk
Eric Rignot
JPL/CalTech
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
eric.rignot [at] jpl.nasa.gov
Please note that the curiously long list of conveners results from five
nearly identical session abstracts on the last day of abstract
submission. We hope the interest in the community matches that of the
conveners.
Sponsor: Cryosphere
CoSponsors: Hydrology, Ocean Sciences, Global Environmental Change