Working with colleagues from the University of Twente in the Netherlands and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, the team combined multiple satellite and land-based data sets and ran hundreds of thousands of simulations on high-performance computing systems, including those of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.
"Our new regional temperature models reveal significant lateral variations in the Earth's thermal structure beneath Greenland, which provide important information on the island's passage over the Iceland hotspot," explains uOttawa's PhD graduate Parviz Ajourlou, the study's first author. "These variations help us better interpret Greenland's tectonic history and the influence of this history on the geophysical properties of the underlying rocks."
Project lead Glenn Milne, Chair and Full Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Ottawa, highlights the broader implications: "This research advances our understanding of the Earth's internal structure beneath Greenland. Temperature variations directly influence the interaction between the ice sheet and the bedrock, which must be quantified to interpret observations of land motion and gravity changes. These observations tell us how the ice sheet is responding to recent climate warming."
To construct their comprehensive 3D temperature model, the researchers processed geophysical data including seismic velocities, gravity anomalies and heat flow, linking these measurements to the thermal structure of the upper mantle beneath Greenland.
The resulting model clarifies Greenland's tectonic past and the present-day state of the ice sheet, and it allows scientists to simulate how changes in subsurface temperature and ice - bedrock coupling can affect future ice loss and global sea level rise.
"This work is a good illustration of how our knowledge of the solid Earth enhances our ability to understand the climate system," says Ajourlou. "By improving how we model ice-earth interactions, we can better forecast future sea level rise and plan accordingly."
The findings are reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in a paper examining how upper mantle temperatures along the Iceland hotspot track illuminate both Greenland's geological history and the mechanics of ice - Earth interactions beneath the ice sheet.
Research Report:Upper mantle temperatures illuminate the Iceland hotspot track and understanding of ice - Earth interactions in Greenland
Related Links
University of Ottawa
Beyond the Ice Age
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