Zachariae Isstrom

Zachariae Isstrom (Danish: Zachariæ Isstrøm; Isstrøm being the Danish word for ice stream) is a large glacier located in King Frederick VIII Land, northeast Greenland.

Zachariae Isstrom
Zachariæ Isstrøm
1911 map with the Zachariæ Isstrøm at the bottom
Map showing the location of Zachariae Isstrom
Map showing the location of Zachariae Isstrom
Location within Greenland
TypePiedmont glacier
LocationGreenland
Coordinates78°0′N 30°0′W
Area91,780 km2 (35,440 sq mi)
Width26 km
TerminusJokel Bay, Greenland Sea
North Atlantic Ocean

This glacier was named by the Denmark expedition 1906–08 after Georg Hugh Robert Zachariae (1850–1937), an officer of the Danish Navy.[1]

Geography

It drains an area of 91,780 km2 (35,440 sq mi) of the Greenland Ice Sheet with a flux (quantity of ice moved from the land to the sea) of 11.7 km3 (2.8 cu mi) per year, as calculated for 1996,[2] increasing to 15 km3 (3.6 cu mi) in 2015.[3] The glacier holds a 0.5-meter sea-level rise equivalent.

Zachariae Isstrøm has its terminus in the northern part of Jokel Bay, south of Lambert Land and north of Nørreland, near the Achton Friis Islands.[4] It terminates into an embayment previously packed with multi-year calf ice.[5]

Glacier retreat

Zachariae Isstrøm broke loose from a stable position in 2012 and entered a phase of accelerated retreat as predicted in 2008.[6]

From a state of approximate mass balance until 2003 it is now losing mass at about 5 Gt/yr. The ice velocity increased by 50% in 2000–2014. In 2012 it detached from a stabilizing sill and retreated rapidly along a downward-sloping, marine-based bed[3] with substantial calving.[7]

See also

References
  1. Place names, NE Greenland - GEUS
  2. Rignot E., Kanagaratnam P. (2006). "Changes in the velocity structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet". Science. 311 (5763): 986–990. doi:10.1126/science.1121381. PMID 16484490.
  3. Fast Retreat of Zachariæ Isstrøm, Northeast Greenland
  4. "Zachariae Isstrøm". Mapcarta. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  5. Greenland marine-terminating glacier area changes: 2000–2010
  6. Glacier changes for 2008 Greenland ice sheet outlet glacier front changes: comparison of year 2008 with past years
  7. NASA Earth Observatory December 4, 2015


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