Water geochemistry of cryoconites in Eqip Sermia Glacier, Greenland: preliminary data

Current climate warming is accelerating mass loss from most of the arctic glaciers. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has also experienced dramatic ice melt in recent years (Koenig et al., 2016) with an increase in crevices that serve as conduits (called moulins) that transport meltwater rapidly into the glacier (Figure 1, down). Water, flowing through these moulins down to the bottom of the ice sheet and towards the sea, can modify the primary geochemical signature of precipitation. Moreover, a certain part of the glacial surface is dispersed by cryoconite holes, near-vertical tubes formed as consequence of melting induced by solar heating of dark debris (Cook et al., 2016) (Figure 1, up). Cryoconite hole may contribute to the glacial runoff on ablating ice surface (Fountain et al., 2008). Although a big effort has been done from the scientific community in order to interpret the sedimentary records of past extreme events in arctic areas, rather little is known about the geochemistry of glacial meltwater input into the oceans. For this reason, it is of interest to measure the concentration of elements accumulate in the unmelted ice body and on the meltwater within cryoconite holes flowing into the moulins. In this study the preliminary data about the major element compositions and the heavy metals level of ice and meltwater collected on Eqip Sermia Glacier (Greenland) are examined.