Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 20, 2010, 79–82

Greenland is receiving unprecedented international atten-

tion, both in scientific and political circles. Characterised

by a central ice sheet up to 3.4 km thick (Inland Ice), nu-

merous ice caps and hundreds of outlet glaciers debouching

into the surrounding oceans, Greenland supports the second

largest ice mass in the world. Analysis of glacier movements,

melt rates and ice loss to the sea, provide data with which to

assess mass balance changes and thereby predict global sea-

level rise. Thus Greenland plays a central role in the current

worldwide debate on climate change.

Present-day dynamic ice loss is invariably advertised by

the fast moving glaciers of western Greenland with their spec-

tacular calf ice production, such as the ice streams around

Disko Bugt reviewed by Weidick & Bennike (2007). This

tends to overshadow ice stability and expansion seen in

the form of stationary and advancing glaciers elsewhere in

Greenland (MODIS 2009). While the seawards acceleration

of glacier f low and retreat in frontal positions can be readily

attributed to a shift in atmospheric and oceanic conditions

(global warming), the same explanation can hardly be used

for glaciers with contrasting movement histories.

Aim of this paper
We focus on three west coast, marine-terminating glaciers be-

tween 75° and 78°N (Fig. 1) to elucidate the retreat–advance

paradox referred to above. Steenstrup Gletscher and Tracy

Gletscher are chosen to illustrate the regional pattern of ice

recession, including massive ice wasting on a broad front in

Melville Bugt, whereas Berlingske Bræ defies this trend by

long-lasting advance. The receding glaciers Steenstrup and

Tracy are known from regional surveys (e.g. Kollmeyer 1980;

Rignot & Kanagaratnam 2006), but the advancing glacier

Berlingske Bræ has only been cursorily mentioned in map

descriptions (Dawes 1992, 2006).

We present maps showing the terminus f luctuations of

the three glaciers based on historical records (Figs 2–4) but

the paper’s four-page limit prohibits discussion of the early

sources. This aspect, climatic records and their relation to

ice f luctuations, and comparisons with other Greenland gla-

ciers, will be dealt with in a forthcoming paper.

Historical sources and the 2009 database
T.C. Chamberlin and R.D. Salisbury were the first to inves-

tigate glaciers in the region in 1894–95 when they reached as

far north as Inglefield Bredning, the location of our northern

glacier (Tracy Gletscher). The next milestone was the regional

mapping by geologist and cartographer Lauge Koch between

1916 and 1923 who surveyed and described glaciers through-

out the region. The 1940s heralded a new era of research with

the incoming of aerial photographs and such images are avail-

able from the period 1948–1985. Finally in the last decades,

satellite images have assured a continual record of the areas

covered and uncovered by Greenland glaciers (Weidick 1994).

In this paper we make use of such imagery from the period

1963–2009. Table 1 summarises our data sources.

An advancing glacier in a recessive ice regime:
Berlingske Bræ, North-West Greenland

Peter R. Dawes and Dirk van As

Fig. 1. Map of North-West Greenland showing the locations of the three

studied glaciers featured in Figs 2–4.

Greenland

60°W

70°W

76°N

77°N

100 km

Fig. 4
Tracy

Gletscher

Fig. 3
Berlingske

Bræ

Fig. 2
Steenstrup
Gletscher

Harald
Moltke
Bræ

Prudhoe Land

78°N

Inland
Ice

Melville
Bugt

Baffin
Bay

Wolstenholme
Fjord

L a u
g

e
K

c
h

y
s

Steensby
Land

Pituffik
(Thule

Air Base)

Qaanaaq

Kap York

8080

Steenstrup Gletscher, Melville Bugt
Steenstrup Gletscher is the widest glacier of the impressive

ice front that characterises Lauge Koch Kyst and that calves

into Melville Bugt (Figs 1, 2). Stretching from the Kap Sed-

don peninsula to Red Head, where Steenstrup Gletscher bor-

ders the fairly stable Kjer Gletscher, the glacier has an irregu-

lar and crevassed f loating tongue more than 30 km wide. Ice

production from the central part is spectacular, both as re-

gards the number of calved bergs and their size. Koch (1928)

noted that large portions of the 25 m high f loating tongue

become detached and move seawards before being broken up,

while Kollmeyer (1980) described the calving of ‘ jigsaw puz-

zle type’ icebergs in excess of 1 km in length.

As illustrated by Fig. 2, the main f luctuations affected the

central part of the f loating tongue where drawback since 1916

is almost 25 km. Melville Bugt is noted for its ice-infested wa-

ters during summer months and the records show that the

nature and position of the ice front can change seasonally

depending on the degree of ice congestion. In five months,

from spring to autumn 1916, the central part of the front had

moved westwards by c. 1 km while in 1920, after a summer

when Melville Bugt was free of ice, there was recession of more

than 6 km (Koch 1928). In contrast, the northern segment of

the terminus was stationary between 1916 and 1923.

Fig. 2. Satellite image of Steenstrup Gletscher and neighbouring glaciers,

southern Melville Bugt, showing eight frontal positions from 1916 to

2009. Thin, white line: coastline. For sources, see Table 1.

Fig. 3. Satellite image of Berlingske Bræ, Granville Fjord showing seven

frontal positions from 1922 to 2009. Thin, white line: coastline. For

sources, see Table 1.

Table 1. Data for North-West Greenland glacier fluctuations

Year Type/Medium Source

1892 Field/Map Peary (1892)

1916 Field/Map Koch (1922)

1922 Field/Map Koch (1932)

1949* OAP
†
/Map Geodetic Institute

1953 VAP
‡

U.S. military

1963 Satellite Zhou & Jezek (2003)

1971 VAP
‡

Greenarctic Consortium

1985 VAP
‡

Geodetic Institute

1975

1999 Landsat NASA and U.S.

2007 satellite Geological Survey

2009

*Photography 1948–1950;
§
1st edition map 1954

†
Oblique aerial photography;

‡
Vertical aerial photography

Red Head

Kap
Seddon

10 km

Sverdrup Gletscher

D
ie
tr
ich

so
n
G
l.

Steenstrup Gletscher

Kjer Gletscher

1916
1949
1963
1975
1985
1999
2007
2009

5 km

1916
1949

Gr
an

vil
le
F
jo
rd Berlingske Bræ

Po
liti

ke
n B

ræ

1963
1975
1985
2007
2009

The shrinkage shown in Fig. 2 has produced new bed-

rock exposures, and Red Head, which was a semi-nunatak in

1916, became an island in 2005.

Berlingske Bræ, Granville Fjord
Berlingske Bræ f lows westwards into the head of Granville

Fjord from the major ice cap of Steensby Land that has a

bridge connection with the Inland Ice (Figs 1, 3). It is the

only glacier of several draining into Granville Fjord that cur-

rently reaches the sea. The glacier has a rather low gradient

and its f low pattern can be traced for about 25 km before be-

ing lost to the ice cap. The glacier trunk is 3–4 km wide, and

today the terminus is irregular, rather slender and crevassed,

and over 2 km across. It is unknown whether the snout is

af loat, but the apparent lack of iceberg production suggests it

is grounded. An unnamed tributary originating from a more

westerly ice cap joins the northern f lank of Berlingske Bræ

contributing to its westerly f low into Granville Fjord.

The terminus positions shown in Fig. 3 illustrate a contin-

uous ice advance in excess of 4 km in the last 85 years that has

changed the glacier front from being terrestrial to marine. As

opposed to when the glacier terminated on land, its tongue

now is strongly tapering. The glacier has overrun the entire

alluvial gravel plain that in the early 20th century extended

beyond its snout and separated it from the fjord, and it has

also engulfed bedrock exposures on its southern f lank that

were mapped by the first author in 1974.

Tracy Gletscher, Inglefield Bredning
Tracy Gletscher is the second largest of six outlet glaciers that

debouch into the headwaters of Inglefield Bredning (Figs 1,

4). It is about 5 km wide with a steep front that has a regular

concave trace which is probably af loat. The f low pattern of

the glacier is recognisable over 30 km before being lost to the

east to the Inland Ice proper.

The 115-year record (Fig. 4) shows substantial ice wasting

amounting to frontal recession of c. 15 km. The terminus po-

sitions show that for a century (1892–1985) Tracy Gletscher

was coalesced with Farquhar Gletscher. In 1923 the seaward

front of the f loating conf luent ice embracing Melville Glet-

scher was a cliff 20 m high and 19 km long (Koch 1928).

Over the past century the glacier tongue has lost about 100

km2 of ice, which represents at least 20 km3 based on Koch’s

observation.

Recession with the impressive break-up of the conf luent ice

mass has led to striking landscape changes. For example, long-

time nunataks Lee Bjerg and Field Bjerg are now lapped by

the sea, while Josephine Peary Ø finally lives up to its name as

an island being eventually released from the ice around 1960

(Inûterssuaq Uvdloriaq, personal communication 1971).

Recent glacial history: retreat versus
advance
The glaciers of North-West Greenland and their marginal

deposits are shown on the Thule 1:500 000 scale geological

sheet, and a summary of glacial history is given in the map

description (Dawes 2006). The regional pattern of spatial

change seen in terms of terminal positions between 1948–50

and 1985 is shown on the maps of Dawes (1988). This infor-

mation, plus the early records summarised by Koch (1928),

the regional analysis of Davies & Krinsley (1962) and satel-

lite data of the last decades, demonstrate that the general re-

cession of the Inland Ice and its outlet glaciers is regional in

character and persistent for more than a century. The drastic

deglaciation of Melville Bugt has brought the ice limit there

close to the early Holocene position (Bennike 2008).

Harvard Øer

Lee Bjerg

Tracy
Gletscher

Smithson
Bjerge

Heilprin
Gletscher

Inglefield Bredning

Josephine
Peary Ø

M
el
vi
lle

G
l.

Field Bjerg

Sh
a
rp

G
le

ts
ch

Fa
rq

u
h
a
r
G

le
ts

ch
er

5 km

1892
1922
1949
1963
1975
1985
2007
2009

Fig. 4. Satellite image of Tracy Gletscher and neighbouring glaciers, Ingle-

field Bredning, showing eight frontal positions from 1892 to 2009. Thin,

white line: coastline. For sources, see Table 1.

8282

The overall pattern is that glaciers with f loating tongues,

like Steenstrup and Tracy, have shown by far the largest re-

treat and ice wastage. The most extensive ice withdrawal has

been along the heavily glaciated Lauge Koch Kyst, where the

lowering ice surface is being pierced by its rock substratum

and where nunataks have become shoreline, and ice-rooted

peninsulas insular. However, some glaciers show current fast

retreat after decades of stability (e.g. Sverdrup Gletscher;

Fig. 2). In general, land-based glaciers show relatively slug-

gish movement, and some have been almost stationary or

only show minor retreat (e.g. Prudhoe Land glaciers; Dawes

2006). It is clear that given the existence of a detailed data-

base, the general recession can be seen to have been interrupt-

ed by short periods of comparative stability and even advance

(e.g. Harald Moltke Bræ; Mock 1966).

In contrast to this regional recessive regime, Berlingske

Bræ shows continual advance for at least 85 years. An expla-

nation of this deviant behaviour must be sought in the fact

that the glacier originates from an independent ice cap that

responds to changes in temperature and precipitation differ-

ently than the Inland Ice. The glacier advance can be a re-

sponse to increased precipitation on the ice cap or increased

basal sliding, both of which could be related to the observed

increase in atmospheric temperatures. No matter which, the

advance of Berlingske Bræ over such a long period is unex-

pected in a warming climate.

Conclusions, relevance to global climate
research and future work
Berlingske Bræ is located between Steenstrup Gletscher and

Tracy Gletscher that are 340 km apart. The two receding

glaciers compare with others in Melville Bugt (and in other

areas of Greenland) indicating changed mass balance of their

source: the Inland Ice. The main causes of this long-lasting

change – documented in our data back to 1892 – must be re-

gional, and thus the present warming climate must affect the

process. However, whatever the fundamental cause (or causes)

controlling regional meltdown, it has been a subordinate fac-

tor at Berlingske Bræ where there is long-standing advance.

Seen in terms of the regional, recessive ice regime in which

it is located, Berlingske Bræ is anomalous and thus outside

mainstream research concerning analysis of dwindling ice

masses and their response to global warming. However, if we

are to understand the underlying complex processes, and ul-

timately the effect of climate change on the regional recessive

regime, attention should also be paid to such glaciers. Among

other things, this research should be directed to discovering

why receding and expanding glaciers with century-long con-

trasting histories occur side by side.

This paper is a contribution to international promotion

of this aspect of glacioclimatic research in progress at the

Survey, both in our study region and elsewhere in Greenland

(e.g. Weidick 2009).

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Authors’ address

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. E-mail: prd@geus.dk