Glacier, fjord, and seismic response to recent large calving events, Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland

Abstract

The recent loss of Jakobshavn Isbræ’s extensive floating ice tongue has been accompanied by a change in near terminus behavior. Calving currently occurs primarily in summer from a grounded terminus, involves the detachment and overturning of several icebergs within 30 – 60 min, and produces long-lasting and far-reaching ocean waves and seismic signals, including ‘‘glacial earthquakes’’. Calving also increases near-terminus glacier velocities by 3% but does not cause episodic rapid glacier slip, thereby contradicting the originally proposed glacial earthquake mechanism. We propose that the earthquakes are instead caused by icebergs scraping the fjord bottom during calving.