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| Sermeq Kujalleq | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sermeq Kujalleq |
| Other name | Jakobshavn Glacier |
| Location | Greenland, Avannaata Municipality |
| Type | Tidewater glacier |
| Status | Retreating |
Sermeq Kujalleq is a major tidewater outlet glacier on the western coast of Greenland, formerly known widely as Jakobshavn Glacier. It drains part of the Greenland Ice Sheet into Ilulissat Icefjord and the Davis Strait, and is notable for producing large icebergs and for its rapid and variable flow rates observed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Sermeq Kujalleq flows from the Grønland Icecap through a narrow fjord into the Ilulissat Icefjord, terminating near the town of Ilulissat, in Avannaata Municipality, just north of Disko Island and adjacent to the mouth of the Uummannaq Fjord system. Its drainage basin lies between mountain ranges that include parts of the Kujalleq Municipality borderlands and is bounded by nunataks such as those explored during the Second Thule Expedition and mapped in surveys by the Danish Geodata Agency. The glacier's grounding line is influenced by bathymetry mapped by expeditions from institutions like the Norwegian Polar Institute and the United States Geological Survey.
Researchers from the Scott Polar Research Institute, NASA, University of Copenhagen, Columbia University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alfred Wegener Institute, and the British Antarctic Survey have studied Sermeq Kujalleq's surge-like behavior, calving process, and basal sliding. Remote sensing by satellites from Landsat, ICESat, CryoSat, Sentinel-1, TerraSAR-X, and missions involving RADARSAT have documented accelerations linked to terminus retreat, iceberg calving events, and seasonal speedup associated with supraglacial meltwater routing and moulin formation described in papers by teams including Jason Box, Ian Joughin, Shfaqat Abbas Khan, and Bethan Davies. Models developed at University of Bristol, Caltech, Princeton University, and the University of Washington incorporate grounding-line dynamics from theoretical work by Fowler (glaciologist), Weertman (glaciologist), and numerical methods refined by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
European documentation of the glacier dates to Danish and Swedish explorers such as Hans Egede, Knud Rasmussen, and cartographers from the Royal Geographical Society. The glacier was named Jakobshavn by colonists associated with Jacob Severin and recorded in logs from the Royal Danish Navy. Scientific surveys in the 19th and 20th centuries involved figures like Knud Leem and expeditions sponsored by the Danish Expedition to Greenland (1930s), with later aerial photography by Pan American World Airways and mapping by Geodetic Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). Modern observational campaigns have been coordinated through collaborations among European Space Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Natural Environment Research Council, and university teams led by scientists including Martha D. H. Jones and Richard Alley.
Retreat and thinning of the glacier have been linked to regional atmospheric warming documented in records from Meteorological Institute of Greenland, ocean warming in the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay described by researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and to increased Atlantic Water inflow observed by cruises from R/V Knorr and RRS James Clark Ross. Paleoclimate context has been provided by ice cores from Camp Century, NGRIP, and GISP2, and by proxy records compiled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)]. Studies led by Jason Box, Ruth Mottram, Tavi Murray, and Glen Peters link observed mass loss to anthropogenic forcing discussed in reports from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change delegates and assessments by the National Research Council (US).
Iceberg production from Sermeq Kujalleq affects fjord ecology, nutrient fluxes, and primary productivity monitored by teams from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Aarhus University, University of Bergen, and the Alfred Wegener Institute. Changes in freshwater input alter stratification in the fjord, impacting species such as capelin, Arctic char, Atlantic cod, and marine mammals like harp seal, narwhal, and beluga whale documented by observers from Greenlandic Institute of Natural Resources and the Sperm Whale Seismic Study. Sedimentary records in fjord basins studied by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland and biodiversity surveys coordinated with World Wildlife Fund monitor shifts in benthic communities and plankton assemblages, while research by Jane Francis and Henk Brinkhuis places these shifts in a longer Quaternary context.
The nearby town of Ilulissat is a center for Inuit communities historically engaged in hunting and fishing traditions tied to the fjord noted in ethnographies by Knud Rasmussen and studies by Steven L. Kaplan. Scientific field camps are supported by logistics from Air Greenland, the Danish Polar Center, and international programs including International Arctic Research Center, Polar Research Institute of China, and the National Science Foundation (US). Long-term monitoring projects involve institutions like Greenland Climate Research Centre, Nordic Council, European Science Foundation, and universities such as Aalborg University, University of Oslo, McGill University, and University of Manitoba.
The glacier and the Ilulissat Icefjord are central to Greenlandic cultural identity and appeared in art, literature, and oral histories collected by the National Museum of Denmark, Greenland National Museum and Archives, and scholars like Willy Ørskov. The site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracts tourism promoted through agencies such as Visit Greenland and tour operators using aircraft from Air Greenland and cruise ships like those operated by Hurtigruten and Silversea Cruises. Guides from local cooperatives collaborate with photographers represented by Magnum Photos, filmmakers working with BBC Natural History Unit, and writers featured in publications like National Geographic, contributing to cultural exchange and narratives about Arctic change.
Category:Glaciers of Greenland