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Location:
Europe,
Greenland, Ilulisat
Category:
Glacier View
Description:
View of the IIcefjord and
the Jakobshavn Glacier and Sermeq
Kujalleq glacier in the Disko bay
from the Hotel Arctic |
Location Information:
Jakobshavn Isbrę, also known as the
Jakobshavn Glacier and Sermeq
Kujalleq (in Greenlandic) is a large
outlet glacier in West Greenland. It
is located near to the Greenlandic
town of Ilulissat and ends at
the sea in the Ilulissat Icefjord.
Jakobshavn Isbrę drains 6.5% of the
Greenland ice sheet and produces
around 10% of all Greenland
icebergs. Some 35 billion tonnes of
icebergs calve off and pass out of
the fjord every year. Icebergs
breaking from the glacier are often
so large (up to a kilometer in
height) that they are too tall to
float down the fjord and lie stuck
on the bottom of its shallower
areas, sometimes for years, until
they are broken up by the force of
the glacier and icebergs further up
the fjord. Studied for over 250
years, Jakobshavn Isbrę has helped
develop our understanding of climate
change and icecap glaciology. It is
also one of the fastest moving
glaciers, flowing at its terminus at
speeds of around 20 metres per
day.The speed of Jakobshavn Isbrę
varied between 5700 and 12600 metres
per year between 1992 and 2003. The
ice stream's speed-up and
near-doubling of ice flow from land
into the ocean has increased the
rate of sea level rise by about .06
millimeters (about .002 inches) per
year, or roughly 4 percent of the
20th century rate of sea level rise.
Jakobshavn Isbrae, retreated 30 km
from 1850 - 1964, followed by a
stationary front for 35 years.
Jakobshavn has the highest mass flux
of any glacier draining the
Greenland Ice Sheet. The glacier
terminus region also had a
consistent velocity of 20 meters/day
(maximum of 26 m in glacier center),
from season to season and year to
year, the glacier seemed to be in
balance from 1955-1985 . After 1997
the glacier began to accelerate and
thin rapidly, reaching an average
velocity of 34 m/day in the terminus
region.
Local
Weather:
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