The Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences

2027 Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences

January 12-15, 2027

How will increasing discharge from the Greenland Ice Sheet affect ocean biogeochemistry?
ID:1283 Oral Presentation

2027-01-15 14:30 (China Standard Time)

Session:Session 13 - High-Latitude Marine Biogeochemical Dynamics and Environmental Change: Coupled Processes, Carbon–Nutrient Cycles, and Polar Futures

Abstract
Since the 1990s, discharge from the Greenland Ice Sheet into the North Atlantic has increased in response to anthropogenic climate change.  Runoff and calved ice volumes from Greenland into the North Atlantic are increasingly well constrained, but there is not yet consensus on the associated sediment fluxes, changes to marine nutrient dynamics, or effects on marine productivity. In summer 2024 we conducted surveys of three glacier fjord systems in southeast Greenland with contrasting geomorphology, glacier dynamics, and latitude. Full depth profiles revealed extensive subsurface particle plumes from marine-terminating glaciers which are not captured in existing sediment flux estimates. Combined with observations of pelagic biogeochemistry, and ROMS estimates of fjord-shelf exchange, we evaluate the effects of increasing glacier discharge on fjord-scale biogeochemical budgets. Our findings underscore the significant sediment inputs occurring around Greenland, with the Ice Sheet providing >14% of global marine sediment input. Yet a large fraction of this sediment is trapped in inner-fjord environments, limiting the consequential biogeochemical effects further downstream. Furthermore, despite large sediment and meltwater inputs, nutrient budgets for the fjord regions remain dominated by inflow of nutrient-rich Atlantic Water (>98% of fjord silica supply). Changes to fjord-shelf exchange are thus likely the first order control on regional nutrient budgets.
Speaker
Mark James Hopwood Southern University of Science and Technology

Author
Mark James Hopwood Southern University of Science and Technology

    Important Dates

    • Jan 30

      2026

      Session / Event proposals open

    • Mar 31

      2026

      Session / Event proposals close
      (Extended to April 7)

    • Apr 30

      2026

      Session acceptance notifications

    • Apr 30

      2026

      Abstract submissions & registration open

    • Jun 30

      2026

      Abstract submissions close
      (Extended to July 21)

    • Aug 31

      2026

      Abstract acceptance notifications

    • Sep 15

      2026

      Scientific program released

    • Oct 15

      2026

      Early bird registration closes

    • Jan 12–15

      2027

      XMAS 2027