Observations of runoff and sediment and dissolved loads from the Greenland Ice Sheet at Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland, 2007 to 2010

Observations from 2007 to 2010 of runoff, sediment and solute delivery from a segment of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and the proglacial landscape draining into the fjord at Kangerlussuaq are presented. The observations include at least three jökulhlaups and extreme recordings from 2010. The average runoff from the 9743 km2 catchment was 377 mm (min. 267 mm and max. 565 mm) and the sediment delivery was 744 t km–2 y–1 with (min. 493 and max. 1221t km–2 y–1).

Solute transport was only 0.4 % of the total load (sediment load + dissolved load). These new values are a factor two higher than values previously published for 2007 and 2008. The average effective erosion from the catchment was 0.28 mm (min. 0.18 and max. 0.45 mm). The erosion is larger than indicated from most other locations along the GrIS, but in the same order of magnitude as erosion in other glaciated areas at the same latitude, e.g.

Norway. The sandur in the proglacial area acts as a sediment sink for a lot of the sediments from the GrIS.