The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere
TC
Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-521-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-521-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
Research article
 | 
13 Feb 2018
Research article |  | 13 Feb 2018

Increased West Antarctic and unchanged East Antarctic ice discharge over the last 7 years

Alex S. Gardner, Geir Moholdt, Ted Scambos, Mark Fahnstock, Stefan Ligtenberg, Michiel van den Broeke, and Johan Nilsson

Data sets

Landsat8 Ice Speed of Antarctica M. Fahnestock, T. Scambos, T. Moon, A. Gardner, T. Haran, and M. Klinger ftp://ftp.nsidc.org/pub/DATASETS/nsidc0733_landsat_ice_speed_v01/

Grounding Line for Antarctic Discharge (GLAD) point files for flux estimates A. S. Gardner, G. Moholdt, T. Scambos, M. Fahnstock, S. Ligtenberg, M. van den Broeke, and J. Nilsson ftp://ftp.nsidc.org/pub/DATASETS/nsidc0732_landsat_antarctic_ice_velocities_v01/GardnerEtAl_2018_SupData/GLAD_flux_gates/

JPL auto-RIFT v0.1 surface velocities A. S. Gardner, G. Moholdt, T. Scambos, M. Fahnstock, S. Ligtenberg, M. van den Broeke, and J. Nilsson ftp://ftp.nsidc.org/pub/DATASETS/nsidc0732_landsat_antarctic_ice_velocities_v01/GardnerEtAl_2018_SupData/GLAD_flux_gates/

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Short summary
We map present-day Antarctic surface velocities from Landsat imagery and compare to earlier estimates from radar. Flow accelerations across the grounding lines of West Antarctica's Amundsen Sea Embayment, Getz Ice Shelf and the western Antarctic Peninsula, account for 89 % of the observed increase in ice discharge. In contrast, glaciers draining the East Antarctic have been remarkably stable. Our work suggests that patterns of mass loss are part of a longer-term phase of enhanced flow.
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