Greenland-wide accelerated retreat of peripheral glaciers in the twenty-first century

Abstract

The long-term response of Greenland’s peripheral glaciers to climate change is widely undocumented. Here we use historical aerial photographs and satellite imagery to document length fluctuations of >1,000 land-terminating peripheral glaciers in Greenland over more than a century. We find that their rate of retreat over the last two decades is double that of the twentieth century, indicating a ubiquitous transition into a new, accelerated state of downwasting. .Observations of glacier response to climate changes prior to the satellite era are sparse. Here the authors use historical aerial photographs to document change in peripheral glaciers in Greenland since 1890, providing enhanced confidence that recent changes are unprecedented on a century timescale.