Name of speaker: Irena Vaňková
Affiliation: British Antarctic Survey
Short biography:
Irena Vaňková is a postdoctoral fellow at the British Antarctic Survey.
She received her PhD in Atmosphere-Ocean Science and Mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the New York University in 2018.
Her PhD work focused on different aspects of glacier fjord dynamics, including fjord hydrographic variability, englacial hydrology, and modeling of the ice mélange.
Irena currently investigates the importance of oceanic variability beneath the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. To detect this variability she uses a newly-developed in-situ radar capable of measuring basal melt rates at high temporal resolution.
Abstract:
The Greenland Ice Sheet is sensitive to changes at its outlet glaciers, which often terminate in deep and narrow fjords. While ocean warming at depth has been linked to outlet glacier speed up and retreat, in many parts of Greenland the glacier fjord hydrographic properties and their variability are not well known, mainly due to scarcity of observations.
Here we analyze eight years of hydrographic observations from Sermilik Fjord, a major glacier fjord in Southeast Greenland. We identify the extent and character of the inter-annual variability in deep fjord water temperatures. To investigate mechanisms responsible for this variability we use an ocean state estimate. We find that the fjord's inter-annual hydrographic variability between 2009 and 2016 is driven by inter-annual changes in the Irminger Sea winter convection.
Arranged date for the seminar talk: May 08, 2019 at BCCR Seminar room 4020, Jahnebakken 5