Declining Basal Motion Dominates the Long‐Term Slowing of Athabasca Glacier, Canada

Abstract

AbstractGlobally, glaciers are shrinking in response to climate change, with implications for global sea level rise as well as downstream ecosystems and water resources. Sliding at the ice‐bed interface (basal motion) provides a mechanism for glaciers to respond rapidly to climate change. While the short‐term dynamics of glacier basal motion (<10 years) have received substantial attention, little is known about how basal motion and its sensitivity to subglacial hydrology changes over long (>50 year) timescales—this knowledge is required for accurate prediction of future glacier change. We compare historical data with modern estimates from field and satellite data at Athabasca Glacier and show that the glacier thinned by 60 m (−21%) over 1961–2020. However, a concurrent increase in surface slope results in minimal change in the average driving stress (−6 kPa and −4%). These geometric changes coincide with relatively uniform slowing (−15 m a−1 and −45%). Simplified ice modeling suggests that declining basal motion accounts for most of this slow down (91% on average and 46% at minimum). A decline in basal motion can be explained by increasing basal friction resulting from geometric change in addition to increasing meltwater flux through a more efficient subglacial hydrologic system. These results highlight the need to include time‐varying dynamics of basal motion in glacier models and analyses. If these findings are generalizable, they suggest that declining basal motion reduces the flux of ice to lower elevations, helping to mitigate glacier mass loss in a warming climate.