We performed three field campaigns in 2004, 2007, and 2010 at the southern margin of the Jakobshavn Isbræ, West Greenland, in order to infer flow velocities and their changes from photogrammetric time-lapse imagery with a temporal resolution of 20 min and a spatial spacing of about 30 m on the glacier surface. Area-wide analysis of more than 3000 three-dimensional trajectories at individual glacier positions allow for both the mapping of the grounding line and the detailed observation of flow variations during major calving events. From 2004 to 2010, the grounding line of Jakobshavn Isbræ retreated 3.5 ± 0.2 km. Considering previously published results, the grounding line retreat amounts to 6 km since 1985. The glacier has an ephemeral floating tongue that can establish during the readvance of the glacier front and break apart after large calving events. Observations of a major calving event show that an acceleration of flow velocities coincides with the onset of the break up during which flow velocities of up to 70 m/d can be reached. Moreover, large vertical displacements of the glacier front in the order of 15 m and lowering of 8 m at positions 500 m beyond the calving front were observed 2 days before the calving event. After the break up, the glacier slowly adjusts to the new boundary conditions within the next 4–5 days. Flow velocity variations caused by calving were detected up to 1 km upstream only which indicates that individual calving events have no immediate effect on the large-scale glacier dynamics.