Articles | Volume 11, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2231-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2231-2017
Research article
 | 
20 Sep 2017
Research article |  | 20 Sep 2017

Geothermal flux and basal melt rate in the Dome C region inferred from radar reflectivity and heat modelling

Olivier Passalacqua, Catherine Ritz, Frédéric Parrenin, Stefano Urbini, and Massimo Frezzotti

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Cited articles

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Short summary
As the Dome C region is a key area for oldest-ice research, we need to better constrain the geothermal flux (GF) so that past basal melt rates are well constrained. Our inverse heat model significantly reduces the confidence intervals of the GF regional field around Dome C, which ranges from 48 to 60 mW m−2. Radar echoes need to be interpreted knowing the time lag of the climate signal to reach the bed. Several old-ice targets are confirmed and a new one is suggested, in which the GF is very low.
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