Transfer of land-based ice masses into the oceans is a strong contributor
to ongoing sea level rise; both, melt-water runoff, as well as ice discharge
into the oceans are expected to increase with continued climate warming.
Dynamic instabilities allow for larger, more rapid ice mass loss than surface
melt, and Earth history has experienced several episodes of rapid ice
sheet decay with severe impact on sea level, climate and ecology. There
is considerable variability in the way glaciers respond to climate change;
some glaciers become dynamically inactive and exhibit moderate rates of
mass loss, whereas others feature dynamic instabilities and discharge large
amounts of ice. For instance, the drastic acceleration of a single basin of the
Austfonna ice cap since 2012 doubled sea-level contribution from the entire
Svalbard archipelago. The discovery of widespread acceleration of
the Greenland Ice Sheet in the early 2000s sparked intense research
activity on the hydraulic lubrication of glacier beds. Since then, a wealth
of new observations in unprecedented quality, detail and coverage
suggest the existence of additional, hitherto neglected, cryo-hydrological
feedbacks. This incomplete process understanding gives rise to considerable
uncertainties about future evolution of sea level, as acknowledged by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. MAMMAMIA addresses these
crucial knowledge gaps to ultimately facilitate improved assessments of the
dynamic stability of polar ice masses.
The project will monitor the subglacial sliding motion of arctic, poly-thermal
glaciers and investigate the role of meltwater supply to control these
processes. Fusing dedicated field experiments, remote sensing and
modelling, will not only advance process parameterization, but also foster
multidisciplinary contributions in theory, methodology and outreach, acting as
a catalyst for research innovation.