Collaborative Research: GreenFjord-FIBER, Observing the Ice-Ocean Interface with Exceptional Resolution

About This Grant

The GreenFjord-FIBER project is a scientific study that uses high-tech measurements to understand how Greenlandic glaciers flowing into the ocean change between winter and summer. The investigators are focusing on the points where the ice meets the ocean. With special sensors measuring vibrations and temperature, the investigators aim to measure where and when icebergs detach from the glacier and fall into the ocean. The investigators also want to find out where warm ocean water is melting the ice and if there is a connection to the speed at which the glacier flows into the ocean. The measurements will help us learn more about how Greenland's glaciers will change in the future and what that might mean for sea levels around the world. In collaboration with a local Greenlandic teacher-trainee, the scientific results of the study and their implications for local communities will be disseminated in Greenland’s classrooms. The proposal aims to test the hypothesis that a regime change in melt source regions occurs during the spring-to-summer transition period, shifting from temperature-dominated melt and calving to sub-glacial discharge-dominated processes. To test this hypothesis, the investigators will deploy a new optical fiber instrument at the calving front of the Qajuuttap Sermia tidewater glacier in Greenland. This instrument will measure acoustic and temperature data to better understand the effect of sub-glacial melt and discharge on calving. The project will generate novel measurements from Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems, making a compelling proof-of-concept for glacier-ocean interface observations, an environment that is notoriously treacherous for equipment and personnel. The inclusion of broadband instruments on land, seismometers on the ocean bottom, and conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) casts from boats will provide important benchmarks against the measurements from DTS/DAS. The project will support two early-career researchers, one postdoc, and an undergraduate in a University of Washington hosted summer research program. In collaboration with a local Greenlandic teacher-trainee, the scientific results of the study and their implications for local communities will be disseminated in Greenland’s classrooms. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.