Storstrommen (Danish: Storstrømmen, meaning "Large Stream"), is one of the major glaciers in northeastern Greenland.[1] The North-East Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) discharges into 3 main marine-terminating outlets: 79N Glacier, Zachariae Isstrøm and Storstrommen - as arranged North to South.[2]
Storstrommen's ice flows at an average of 185m/yr,[3] an order of magnitude slower than its Northern cousins. This is suggested as this outlet sits on higher elevations, where the subglacial topography and hydro-dynamics pin and slow glacier flow, relative to predominantly marine-based 79N and Zachariae Isstrøm. All 3 outlets see an increased ice velocity in the summer months,[4] as surface meltwater is fed into the subglacial environment, saturating highly-malleable tills and lubricating the over-riding glacier's movement.
Storstrømmen was named because of its size. It was given this name by the ill-fated 1906–08 Denmark Expedition (Danmark-Ekspeditionen) led by Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen.[5]
Storstrommen is widely recorded to be a surge-type glacier, which has recently experienced a form of "Quiescence" and slower movement.[6][7] The last "surge" was recorded by Mouginot and others in 2018 [2] to have ended in 1990. The glacier has been in a quiescent state since, although there are suggestions it will reach the required pre-surge conditions by 2027–2030. Grounding-line retreat is noted by the same article to be approximately 400m/yr, and the "dynamic cycling" of temperature and precipitation (which alters glacier mass-balance) is thought to be causing this.[7]
Storstrommen's companion glacier "Bistrup Brae" last surged between 1988 and 1996.[2]
The mighty Storstrommen is roughly north–south oriented and has a width of over 20 km. Queen Louise Land (Dronning Louise Land) lies to the west and Daniel Bruun Land to the east.[5] Both areas see a large number of nunataks extending above the ice surface. The nunataks present a viable albedo-feedback mechanism, which preferentially forms supraglacial lakes at the margins of many of the outlets in the area.[8]
Flowing southwards for over 125 kilometers from the area of the Alabama Nunatak, its front is in the Bredebrae,[9] the confluence of two very large glaciers, the Storstrommen flowing from the north and the almost equally large L. Bistrup Brae from the south.[5]
The Storstrommen is part of an extensive glacier system that includes as well the Kofoed-Hansen Glacier (Kofoed-Hansen Bræ) to the NE and the Borgjokel to the SW.[9][10][11]