Dynamics throughout a complete surge of Iceberg Glacier on western Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian High Arctic

Abstract

This study provides the first comprehensive reconstruction of the dynamics of Iceberg Glacier, located on western Axel Heiberg Island, and reveals detailed observations of a complete surge for the first time in the Canadian Arctic. Historical aerial photographs, declassified intelligence satellite photographs, optical satellite imagery and synthetic aperture radar data were used to quantify changes in terminus position, ice velocity and glacier thickness since the 1950s. A surge initiated at the terminus in 1981 and terminated in 2003, suggesting a 22-year active phase. High surface velocities, reaching ~2300 m a−1 in 1991, were accompanied by a maximum terminus advance of >7 km and a large transfer of mass down-glacier, causing significant median trunk-wide surface elevation changes attaining >3 ± 1 m a−1. We suggest that the retreat from a pinning point, flotation of the terminus, the removal of sea-ice from the ice front, and an increase in subglacial meltwater availability from relatively high air temperatures in 1981 likely contributed to surge initiation. The ensuing quiescent period has seen a continual decrease in surface flow rates to an average centreline velocity of 11.5 m a−1 in 2020–21, a gradual steepening of the glacier surface and a > 2.5 km terminus retreat.

Remote sensing of glacier change (1965–2021) and identification of surge-type glaciers on Severnaya Zemlya, Russian High Arctic

“…Basin 3, Austfonna) (Dunse and others, 2015;Benn and others, 2023). If these slow advances on Severnaya Zemlya are due to surging, as assumed, the active phase duration may be similar to glaciers in the cold, dry Canadian High Arctic, where the active phase has exceeded 20-50 years for some glaciers (Copland and others, 2003;Van Wychen and others, 2016;Lauzon and others, 2023). Despite the fact that surging has not been observed with sufficient frequency to accurately constrain the duration of the active and quiescent phases, it can be assumed that the duration required for replenishing the mass to enable surging would take longer than in areas with higher rates of annual snowfall (e.g.…”

Surge-type glaciers in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland): distribution, temporal patterns and climatic controls

“…The Benn and others (2019a) general theory of surges helps to reconcile both the distinct geographical clustering of surge-type glaciers within defined climatic envelopes (Jiskoot and others, 2000; and the large diversity in surge characteristics (Benn and others, 2023). Most surge-type glaciers are found in a few dense regional groupings, which can be broadly categorised into (1) a circum-Arctic population (termed 'Arctic Ring' in ), including Alaska-Yukon (Clarke and others, 1986;Harrison and Post, 2003), the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (Copland and others, 2003;Lauzon and others, 2023), west and east Greenland (Jiskoot and others, 2003;Yde and Knudsen, 2007), Iceland (Björnsson and others, 2003), Svalbard (Jiskoot and others, 2000) and the Russian High Arctic (Grant and others, 2009;Wytiahlowsky and others, 2023); (2) a High Mountain Asia population (Guillet and others, 2022), including the Karakoram (Hewitt, 1969;Quincey and others, 2011;Bhambri and others, 2017), Pamirs (Lv and others, 2019;Goerlich and others, 2020), Tien Shan (Mukherjee and others, 2017) and the Tibetan Plateau (King and others, 2021); and (3) a small population in the Andes (Lliboutry, 1998;Falaschi and others, 2018). Surges occur in continental and maritime environments, in landterminating and marine-terminating glaciers, under temperate and polythermal glacier regimes and in all glacier sizes from ice sheet outlet glaciers to mountain glaciers.…”