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Acceleration of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) tidewater outlet glaciers has increased the ice sheet's contribution to global sea level rise over the last two decades. Coincident increases in atmospheric temperatures around Greenland explain some of the increased ice loss, but warm Atlantic-origin water (AW) is increasingly recognized as contributing to the accelerating ice-mass loss, particularly, via the outlet glaciers of south-east (SE) Greenland. However, there remains a lack of understanding of the variability in heat content of the water masses found to the east of Greenland and how this heat is communicated to the outlet glaciers of the GrIS. Here a new analysis is presented of ocean/GrIS interaction in which the oceanic heat flux toward the ice sheet in Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord (0.26 TW) is an order-of-magnitude greater than that reported for the other major outlet glacier of SE Greenland (Helheim). Heat delivered by AW to the calving front of Kangerdlugssuaq is equivalent to 10 m d

Abstract. The Greenland ice sheet is experiencing increasing rates of mass loss, the majority of which results from changes in discharge from tidewater glaciers. Both atmospheric and ocean drivers have been implicated in these dynamic changes, but understanding the nature of the response has been hampered by the lack of measurements of glacier flow rates predating the recent period of warming. Here, using Landsat-5 data from 1985 onwards, we extend back in time the record of surface velocities and ice-front position for 16 of Greenland's fastest-flowing tidewater glaciers, and compare these to more recent data from Landsat-7 and satellite-borne synthetic-aperture radar. Climate re-analysis data and sea surface temperatures from 1982 show that since 1995 most of Greenland and its surrounding oceans have experienced significant overall warming, and a switch to a warming trend. During the period from 1985 to 1995 when Greenland and the surrounding oceans were not warming, major tidewater outlet glaciers around Greenland, including Kangerdlugssuaq and Helheim, were dynamically stable. Since the mid-1990s, glacier discharge has consistently been both greater and more variable. Together, these observations support the hypothesis that recent dynamic change is a rapid response to climate forcing. Both air and ocean temperatures in this region are predicted to continue to warm, and will therefore likely drive further change in outlet glacier discharge.

We use model data from the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS), measurements from automatic weather stations and satellite observations to investigate the association between surface energy balance (SEB), surface melt, and the occurrence of föhn winds over Larsen C Ice Shelf (Antarctic Peninsula) over the period November 2010 to March 2011. Föhn conditions occurred for over 20% of the time during this period and are associated with increased air temperatures and decreased relative humidity (relative to nonföhn conditions) over the western part of the ice shelf. During föhn conditions, the downward turbulent flux of sensible heat and the downwelling shortwave radiation both increase. However, in AMPS, these warming tendencies are largely balanced by an increase in upward latent heat flux and a decrease in downwelling longwave radiation so the impact of föhn on the modeled net SEB is small. This balance is highly sensitive to the representation of surface energy fluxes in the model, and limited validation data suggest that AMPS may underestimate the sensitivity of SEB and melt to föhn. There is broad agreement on the spatial pattern of melt between the model and satellite observations but disagreement in the frequency with which melt occurs. Satellite observations indicate localized regions of persistent melt along the foot of the Antarctic Peninsula mountains which are not simulated by the model. Furthermore, melt is observed to persist in these regions during extended periods when föhn does not occur, suggesting that other factors may be important in controlling melt in these regions.

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