Articles | Volume 13, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2579-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2579-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
02 Oct 2019
Research article |
| 02 Oct 2019
| 02 Oct 2019
Spatial and temporal variations in basal melting at Nivlisen ice shelf, East Antarctica, derived from phase-sensitive radars
Katrin Lindbäck
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Norwegian Polar Institute, Framsenteret, Postboks 6606, Langnes, 9296
Tromsø, Norway
Geir Moholdt
Norwegian Polar Institute, Framsenteret, Postboks 6606, Langnes, 9296
Tromsø, Norway
Keith W. Nicholls
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council,
High Cross, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
Tore Hattermann
Norwegian Polar Institute, Framsenteret, Postboks 6606, Langnes, 9296
Tromsø, Norway
Bhanu Pratap
National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth
Sciences, Government of India, Headland Sada, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa 403 804, India
Meloth Thamban
National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth
Sciences, Government of India, Headland Sada, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa 403 804, India
Kenichi Matsuoka
Norwegian Polar Institute, Framsenteret, Postboks 6606, Langnes, 9296
Tromsø, Norway
Related authors
Ankit Pramanik, Jack Kohler, Katrin Lindbäck, Penelope How, Ward Van Pelt, Glen Liston, and Thomas V. Schuler
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-197, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-197, 2020
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Freshwater discharge from tidewater glaciers influences fjord circulation and fjord ecosystem. Glacier hydrology plays crucial role in transporting water underneath glacier ice. We investigated hydrology beneath the tidewater glaciers of Kongsfjord basin in Northwest Svalbard and found that subglacial water flow differs substantially from surface flow of glacier ice. Furthermore, we derived freshwater discharge time-series from all the glaciers to the fjord.
Katrin Lindbäck, Jack Kohler, Rickard Pettersson, Christopher Nuth, Kirsty Langley, Alexandra Messerli, Dorothée Vallot, Kenichi Matsuoka, and Ola Brandt
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1769–1781, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1769-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1769-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Tidewater glaciers terminate directly into the sea and the glacier fronts are important feeding areas for birds and marine mammals. Svalbard tidewater glaciers are retreating, which will affect fjord circulation and ecosystems when glacier fronts end on land. In this paper, we present digital maps of ice thickness and topography under five tidewater glaciers in Kongsfjorden, northwestern Svalbard, which will be useful in studies of future glacier changes in the area.
Penelope How, Douglas I. Benn, Nicholas R. J. Hulton, Bryn Hubbard, Adrian Luckman, Heïdi Sevestre, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Katrin Lindbäck, Jack Kohler, and Wim Boot
The Cryosphere, 11, 2691–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides valuable insight into subglacial hydrology and dynamics at tidewater glaciers, which remains a poorly understood area of glaciology. It is a unique study because of the wealth of information provided by simultaneous observations of glacier hydrology at Kronebreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. All these elements build a strong conceptual picture of the glacier's hydrological regime over the 2014 melt season.
Dirk van As, Andreas Bech Mikkelsen, Morten Holtegaard Nielsen, Jason E. Box, Lillemor Claesson Liljedahl, Katrin Lindbäck, Lincoln Pitcher, and Bent Hasholt
The Cryosphere, 11, 1371–1386, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1371-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1371-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The Greenland ice sheet melts faster in a warmer climate. The ice sheet is flatter at high elevation, therefore atmospheric warming increases the melt area exponentially. For current climate conditions, we find that the ice sheet shape amplifies the total meltwater generation by roughly 60 %. Meltwater is not stored underneath the ice sheet, as previously found, but it does take multiple days for it to pass through the seasonally developing subglacial drainage channels, moderating discharge.
Andreas Bech Mikkelsen, Alun Hubbard, Mike MacFerrin, Jason Eric Box, Sam H. Doyle, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Bent Hasholt, Hannah L. Bailey, Katrin Lindbäck, and Rickard Pettersson
The Cryosphere, 10, 1147–1159, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1147-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1147-2016, 2016
K. Lindbäck, R. Pettersson, S. H. Doyle, C. Helanow, P. Jansson, S. S. Kristensen, L. Stenseng, R. Forsberg, and A. L. Hubbard
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 6, 331–338, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-331-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-331-2014, 2014
S. H. Doyle, A. L. Hubbard, C. F. Dow, G. A. Jones, A. Fitzpatrick, A. Gusmeroli, B. Kulessa, K. Lindback, R. Pettersson, and J. E. Box
The Cryosphere, 7, 129–140, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-129-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-129-2013, 2013
Julius Lauber, Tore Hattermann, Laura de Steur, Elin Darelius, and Agneta Fransson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-904, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-904, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Recent studies have highlighted the potential vulnerability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to atmospheric and oceanic changes. We present new insights from observations from three oceanic moorings below Fimbulisen Ice Shelf from 2009 to 2021. We find that relatively warm water masses reach below the ice shelf both close to the surface and at depth with implications for the basal melting of Fimbulisen.
Qin Zhou, Chen Zhao, Rupert Gladstone, Tore Hattermann, David Gwyther, and Benjamin Galton-Fenzi
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-244, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-244, 2024
Preprint under review for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
We have introduced an "accelerated forcing" approach to address the discrepancy in timescales between ice sheet and ocean models in coupled modelling, by reducing the ocean model simulation duration. We evaluate the approach's applicability and limitations based on idealized coupled models. Our results suggest that, when used carefully, the approach can be a useful tool in coupled ice sheet-ocean modelling, especially relevant to studies on sea level rise projections.
Neil C. Swart, Torge Martin, Rebecca Beadling, Jia-Jia Chen, Christopher Danek, Matthew H. England, Riccardo Farneti, Stephen M. Griffies, Tore Hattermann, Judith Hauck, F. Alexander Haumann, André Jüling, Qian Li, John Marshall, Morven Muilwijk, Andrew G. Pauling, Ariaan Purich, Inga J. Smith, and Max Thomas
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 7289–7309, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Current climate models typically do not include full representation of ice sheets. As the climate warms and the ice sheets melt, they add freshwater to the ocean. This freshwater can influence climate change, for example by causing more sea ice to form. In this paper we propose a set of experiments to test the influence of this missing meltwater from Antarctica using multiple different climate models.
Abhay Prakash, Qin Zhou, Tore Hattermann, and Nina Kirchner
The Cryosphere, 17, 5255–5281, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5255-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5255-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice arch formation in the Nares Strait has shielded the Petermann Glacier ice shelf from enhanced basal melting. However, with the sustained decline of the Arctic sea ice predicted to continue, the ice shelf is likely to be exposed to a year-round mobile and thin sea ice cover. In such a scenario, our modelled results show that elevated temperatures, and more importantly, a stronger ocean circulation in the ice shelf cavity, could result in up to two-thirds increase in basal melt.
Jean-Baptiste Sallée, Lucie Vignes, Audrey Minière, Nadine Steiger, Etienne Pauthenet, Antonio Lourenco, Kevin Speer, Peter Lazarevich, and Keith Nicholls
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2952, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2952, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the Weddell Sea, one of the regional seas fringing Antarctica, we investigated how warm deep currents and cold waters containing freshwater released from the Antarctic are connected. We used autonomous observation devices never been used in this region previously that allow us to track the movement and characteristics of water-masses under the sea ice. Our findings show a dynamic interaction between warm-masses, providing key insights to understand climate-related changes in the region.
Hélène Seroussi, Vincent Verjans, Sophie Nowicki, Antony J. Payne, Heiko Goelzer, William H. Lipscomb, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Cécile Agosta, Torsten Albrecht, Xylar Asay-Davis, Alice Barthel, Reinhard Calov, Richard Cullather, Christophe Dumas, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Rupert Gladstone, Nicholas R. Golledge, Jonathan M. Gregory, Ralf Greve, Tore Hattermann, Matthew J. Hoffman, Angelika Humbert, Philippe Huybrechts, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Thomas Kleiner, Eric Larour, Gunter R. Leguy, Daniel P. Lowry, Chistopher M. Little, Mathieu Morlighem, Frank Pattyn, Tyler Pelle, Stephen F. Price, Aurélien Quiquet, Ronja Reese, Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel, Andrew Shepherd, Erika Simon, Robin S. Smith, Fiammetta Straneo, Sainan Sun, Luke D. Trusel, Jonas Van Breedam, Peter Van Katwyk, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Ricarda Winkelmann, Chen Zhao, Tong Zhang, and Thomas Zwinger
The Cryosphere, 17, 5197–5217, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5197-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5197-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Mass loss from Antarctica is a key contributor to sea level rise over the 21st century, and the associated uncertainty dominates sea level projections. We highlight here the Antarctic glaciers showing the largest changes and quantify the main sources of uncertainty in their future evolution using an ensemble of ice flow models. We show that on top of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, Totten and Moscow University glaciers show rapid changes and a strong sensitivity to warmer ocean conditions.
Anirudha Mahagaonkar, Geir Moholdt, and Thomas V. Schuler
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-4, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-4, 2023
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Surface meltwater lakes along the margins of the Antarctic Ice Sheet can be important for ice shelf dynamics and stability. We used optical satellite imagery to study seasonal evolution of meltwater lakes in Dronning Maud Land. We found large interannual variability in lake extents, but with consistent seasonal patterns. Although correlation with summer air temperature was strong locally, other climatic and environmental factors need to be considered to explain the large regional variability.
Julian Gutt, Stefanie Arndt, David Keith Alan Barnes, Horst Bornemann, Thomas Brey, Olaf Eisen, Hauke Flores, Huw Griffiths, Christian Haas, Stefan Hain, Tore Hattermann, Christoph Held, Mario Hoppema, Enrique Isla, Markus Janout, Céline Le Bohec, Heike Link, Felix Christopher Mark, Sebastien Moreau, Scarlett Trimborn, Ilse van Opzeeland, Hans-Otto Pörtner, Fokje Schaafsma, Katharina Teschke, Sandra Tippenhauer, Anton Van de Putte, Mia Wege, Daniel Zitterbart, and Dieter Piepenburg
Biogeosciences, 19, 5313–5342, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5313-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5313-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term ecological observations are key to assess, understand and predict impacts of environmental change on biotas. We present a multidisciplinary framework for such largely lacking investigations in the East Antarctic Southern Ocean, combined with case studies, experimental and modelling work. As climate change is still minor here but is projected to start soon, the timely implementation of this framework provides the unique opportunity to document its ecological impacts from the very onset.
Angelika Humbert, Julia Christmann, Hugh F. J. Corr, Veit Helm, Lea-Sophie Höyns, Coen Hofstede, Ralf Müller, Niklas Neckel, Keith W. Nicholls, Timm Schultz, Daniel Steinhage, Michael Wolovick, and Ole Zeising
The Cryosphere, 16, 4107–4139, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4107-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4107-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Ice shelves are normally flat structures that fringe the Antarctic continent. At some locations they have channels incised into their underside. On Filchner Ice Shelf, such a channel is more than 50 km long and up to 330 m high. We conducted field measurements of basal melt rates and found a maximum of 2 m yr−1. Simulations represent the geometry evolution of the channel reasonably well. There is no reason to assume that this type of melt channel is destabilizing ice shelves.
Chen Zhao, Rupert Gladstone, Benjamin Keith Galton-Fenzi, David Gwyther, and Tore Hattermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5421–5439, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5421-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5421-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We use a coupled ice–ocean model to explore an oscillation feature found in several contributing models to MISOMIP1. The oscillation is closely related to the discretized grounding line retreat and likely strengthened by the buoyancy–melt feedback and/or melt–geometry feedback near the grounding line, and frequent ice–ocean coupling. Our model choices have a non-trivial impact on mean melt and ocean circulation strength, which might be interesting for the coupled ice–ocean community.
Ole Zeising, Daniel Steinhage, Keith W. Nicholls, Hugh F. J. Corr, Craig L. Stewart, and Angelika Humbert
The Cryosphere, 16, 1469–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1469-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1469-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Remote-sensing-derived basal melt rates of ice shelves are of great importance due to their capability to cover larger areas. We performed in situ measurements with a phase-sensitive radar on the southern Filchner Ice Shelf, showing moderate melt rates and low small-scale spatial variability. The comparison with remote-sensing-based melt rates revealed large differences caused by the estimation of vertical strain rates from remote sensing velocity fields that modern fields can overcome.
Coen Hofstede, Sebastian Beyer, Hugh Corr, Olaf Eisen, Tore Hattermann, Veit Helm, Niklas Neckel, Emma C. Smith, Daniel Steinhage, Ole Zeising, and Angelika Humbert
The Cryosphere, 15, 1517–1535, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1517-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1517-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Support Force Glacier rapidly flows into Filcher Ice Shelf of Antarctica. As we know little about this glacier and its subglacial drainage, we used seismic energy to map the transition area from grounded to floating ice where a drainage channel enters the ocean cavity. Soft sediments close to the grounding line are probably transported by this drainage channel. The constant ice thickness over the steeply dipping seabed of the ocean cavity suggests a stable transition and little basal melting.
Rupert Gladstone, Benjamin Galton-Fenzi, David Gwyther, Qin Zhou, Tore Hattermann, Chen Zhao, Lenneke Jong, Yuwei Xia, Xiaoran Guo, Konstantinos Petrakopoulos, Thomas Zwinger, Daniel Shapero, and John Moore
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 889–905, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-889-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-889-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet, and hence its contribution to sea level rise, is highly sensitive to melting of its floating ice shelves. This melt is caused by warm ocean currents coming into contact with the ice. Computer models used for future ice sheet projections are not able to realistically evolve these melt rates. We describe a new coupling framework to enable ice sheet and ocean computer models to interact, allowing projection of the evolution of melt and its impact on sea level.
Claudia Wekerle, Tore Hattermann, Qiang Wang, Laura Crews, Wilken-Jon von Appen, and Sergey Danilov
Ocean Sci., 16, 1225–1246, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-1225-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-1225-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The high-resolution ocean models ROMS and FESOM configured for the Fram Strait reveal very energetic ocean conditions there. The two main currents meander strongly and shed circular currents of water, called eddies. Our analysis shows that this region is characterised by small and short-lived eddies (on average around a 5 km radius and 10 d lifetime). Both models agree on eddy properties and show similar patterns of baroclinic and barotropic instability of the West Spitsbergen Current.
Ankit Pramanik, Jack Kohler, Katrin Lindbäck, Penelope How, Ward Van Pelt, Glen Liston, and Thomas V. Schuler
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-197, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-197, 2020
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Freshwater discharge from tidewater glaciers influences fjord circulation and fjord ecosystem. Glacier hydrology plays crucial role in transporting water underneath glacier ice. We investigated hydrology beneath the tidewater glaciers of Kongsfjord basin in Northwest Svalbard and found that subglacial water flow differs substantially from surface flow of glacier ice. Furthermore, we derived freshwater discharge time-series from all the glaciers to the fjord.
Nicolas C. Jourdain, Xylar Asay-Davis, Tore Hattermann, Fiammetta Straneo, Hélène Seroussi, Christopher M. Little, and Sophie Nowicki
The Cryosphere, 14, 3111–3134, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3111-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3111-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
To predict the future Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, we need to use ice sheet models. The Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for AR6 (ISMIP6) builds an ensemble of ice sheet projections constrained by atmosphere and ocean projections from the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). In this work, we present and assess a method to derive ice shelf basal melting in ISMIP6 from the CMIP6 ocean outputs, and we give examples of projected melt rates.
Hélène Seroussi, Sophie Nowicki, Antony J. Payne, Heiko Goelzer, William H. Lipscomb, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Cécile Agosta, Torsten Albrecht, Xylar Asay-Davis, Alice Barthel, Reinhard Calov, Richard Cullather, Christophe Dumas, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Rupert Gladstone, Nicholas R. Golledge, Jonathan M. Gregory, Ralf Greve, Tore Hattermann, Matthew J. Hoffman, Angelika Humbert, Philippe Huybrechts, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Thomas Kleiner, Eric Larour, Gunter R. Leguy, Daniel P. Lowry, Chistopher M. Little, Mathieu Morlighem, Frank Pattyn, Tyler Pelle, Stephen F. Price, Aurélien Quiquet, Ronja Reese, Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel, Andrew Shepherd, Erika Simon, Robin S. Smith, Fiammetta Straneo, Sainan Sun, Luke D. Trusel, Jonas Van Breedam, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Ricarda Winkelmann, Chen Zhao, Tong Zhang, and Thomas Zwinger
The Cryosphere, 14, 3033–3070, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3033-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3033-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass over at least the past 3 decades in response to changes in atmospheric and oceanic conditions. This study presents an ensemble of model simulations of the Antarctic evolution over the 2015–2100 period based on various ice sheet models, climate forcings and emission scenarios. Results suggest that the West Antarctic ice sheet will continue losing a large amount of ice, while the East Antarctic ice sheet could experience increased snow accumulation.
Alex Brisbourne, Bernd Kulessa, Thomas Hudson, Lianne Harrison, Paul Holland, Adrian Luckman, Suzanne Bevan, David Ashmore, Bryn Hubbard, Emma Pearce, James White, Adam Booth, Keith Nicholls, and Andrew Smith
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 887–896, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-887-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-887-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Melting of the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica may lead to its collapse. To help estimate its lifespan we need to understand how the ocean can circulate beneath. This requires knowledge of the geometry of the sub-shelf cavity. New and existing measurements of seabed depth are integrated to produce a map of the ocean cavity beneath the ice shelf. The observed deep seabed may provide a pathway for circulation of warm ocean water but at the same time reduce rapid tidal melt at a critical location.
Katrin Lindbäck, Jack Kohler, Rickard Pettersson, Christopher Nuth, Kirsty Langley, Alexandra Messerli, Dorothée Vallot, Kenichi Matsuoka, and Ola Brandt
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1769–1781, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1769-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1769-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Tidewater glaciers terminate directly into the sea and the glacier fronts are important feeding areas for birds and marine mammals. Svalbard tidewater glaciers are retreating, which will affect fjord circulation and ecosystems when glacier fronts end on land. In this paper, we present digital maps of ice thickness and topography under five tidewater glaciers in Kongsfjorden, northwestern Svalbard, which will be useful in studies of future glacier changes in the area.
Alex S. Gardner, Geir Moholdt, Ted Scambos, Mark Fahnstock, Stefan Ligtenberg, Michiel van den Broeke, and Johan Nilsson
The Cryosphere, 12, 521–547, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-521-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-521-2018, 2018
Short summary
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.
Penelope How, Douglas I. Benn, Nicholas R. J. Hulton, Bryn Hubbard, Adrian Luckman, Heïdi Sevestre, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Katrin Lindbäck, Jack Kohler, and Wim Boot
The Cryosphere, 11, 2691–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides valuable insight into subglacial hydrology and dynamics at tidewater glaciers, which remains a poorly understood area of glaciology. It is a unique study because of the wealth of information provided by simultaneous observations of glacier hydrology at Kronebreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. All these elements build a strong conceptual picture of the glacier's hydrological regime over the 2014 melt season.
Sebastian H. R. Rosier, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Matt A. King, Keith W. Nicholls, Keith Makinson, and Hugh F. J. Corr
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 849–860, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-849-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-849-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Tides can affect the flow of ice at hourly to yearly timescales. In some cases the ice responds at a different frequency than is found in the tidal forcing; for example, on Rutford Ice Stream the strongest response is at a fortnightly period. A new compilation of GPS data across the Ronne Ice Shelf and adjoining ice streams shows that this fortnightly modulation in ice flow is found across the entire region. Measurements of this kind can provide insights into ice rheology and basal processes.
Johannes Jakob Fürst, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Toby J. Benham, Julian A. Dowdeswell, Mariusz Grabiec, Francisco Navarro, Rickard Pettersson, Geir Moholdt, Christopher Nuth, Björn Sass, Kjetil Aas, Xavier Fettweis, Charlotte Lang, Thorsten Seehaus, and Matthias Braun
The Cryosphere, 11, 2003–2032, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2003-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2003-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
For the large majority of glaciers and ice caps, there is no information on the thickness of the ice cover. Any attempt to predict glacier demise under climatic warming and to estimate the future contribution to sea-level rise is limited as long as the glacier thickness is not well constrained. Here, we present a two-step mass-conservation approach for mapping ice thickness. Measurements are naturally reproduced. The reliability is readily assessible from a complementary map of error estimates.
Dirk van As, Andreas Bech Mikkelsen, Morten Holtegaard Nielsen, Jason E. Box, Lillemor Claesson Liljedahl, Katrin Lindbäck, Lincoln Pitcher, and Bent Hasholt
The Cryosphere, 11, 1371–1386, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1371-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1371-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The Greenland ice sheet melts faster in a warmer climate. The ice sheet is flatter at high elevation, therefore atmospheric warming increases the melt area exponentially. For current climate conditions, we find that the ice sheet shape amplifies the total meltwater generation by roughly 60 %. Meltwater is not stored underneath the ice sheet, as previously found, but it does take multiple days for it to pass through the seasonally developing subglacial drainage channels, moderating discharge.
Laurence Gray, David Burgess, Luke Copland, Thorben Dunse, Kirsty Langley, and Geir Moholdt
The Cryosphere, 11, 1041–1058, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1041-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1041-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We use surface height data from west Greenland and Devon Ice Cap to check the performance of the new interferometric mode of the ESA CryoSat radar altimeter. The detailed height comparison allows an improved system calibration and processing methodology and measurement of the height of supraglacial lakes which form each summer around the periphery of the Greenland Ice Cap. The advantages of the SARIn mode suggest that future satellite radar altimeters for glacial ice should use this technology.
Andreas Bech Mikkelsen, Alun Hubbard, Mike MacFerrin, Jason Eric Box, Sam H. Doyle, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Bent Hasholt, Hannah L. Bailey, Katrin Lindbäck, and Rickard Pettersson
The Cryosphere, 10, 1147–1159, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1147-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1147-2016, 2016
K. Lindbäck, R. Pettersson, S. H. Doyle, C. Helanow, P. Jansson, S. S. Kristensen, L. Stenseng, R. Forsberg, and A. L. Hubbard
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 6, 331–338, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-331-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-331-2014, 2014
D. Callens, K. Matsuoka, D. Steinhage, B. Smith, E. Witrant, and F. Pattyn
The Cryosphere, 8, 867–875, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-867-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-867-2014, 2014
A. A. Borsa, G. Moholdt, H. A. Fricker, and K. M. Brunt
The Cryosphere, 8, 345–357, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-345-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-345-2014, 2014
W. Colgan, W. Abdalati, M. Citterio, B. Csatho, X. Fettweis, S. Luthcke, G. Moholdt, and M. Stober
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-8-537-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-8-537-2014, 2014
Revised manuscript not accepted
A. M. Brisbourne, A. M. Smith, E. C. King, K. W. Nicholls, P. R. Holland, and K. Makinson
The Cryosphere, 8, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1-2014, 2014
J. F. Levinsen, K. Khvorostovsky, F. Ticconi, A. Shepherd, R. Forsberg, L. S. Sørensen, A. Muir, N. Pie, D. Felikson, T. Flament, R. Hurkmans, G. Moholdt, B. Gunter, R. C. Lindenbergh, and M. Kleinherenbrink
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-5433-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-5433-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript not accepted
C. Nuth, J. Kohler, M. König, A. von Deschwanden, J. O. Hagen, A. Kääb, G. Moholdt, and R. Pettersson
The Cryosphere, 7, 1603–1621, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1603-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1603-2013, 2013
M. Zemp, E. Thibert, M. Huss, D. Stumm, C. Rolstad Denby, C. Nuth, S. U. Nussbaumer, G. Moholdt, A. Mercer, C. Mayer, P. C. Joerg, P. Jansson, B. Hynek, A. Fischer, H. Escher-Vetter, H. Elvehøy, and L. M. Andreassen
The Cryosphere, 7, 1227–1245, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1227-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1227-2013, 2013
P. Fretwell, H. D. Pritchard, D. G. Vaughan, J. L. Bamber, N. E. Barrand, R. Bell, C. Bianchi, R. G. Bingham, D. D. Blankenship, G. Casassa, G. Catania, D. Callens, H. Conway, A. J. Cook, H. F. J. Corr, D. Damaske, V. Damm, F. Ferraccioli, R. Forsberg, S. Fujita, Y. Gim, P. Gogineni, J. A. Griggs, R. C. A. Hindmarsh, P. Holmlund, J. W. Holt, R. W. Jacobel, A. Jenkins, W. Jokat, T. Jordan, E. C. King, J. Kohler, W. Krabill, M. Riger-Kusk, K. A. Langley, G. Leitchenkov, C. Leuschen, B. P. Luyendyk, K. Matsuoka, J. Mouginot, F. O. Nitsche, Y. Nogi, O. A. Nost, S. V. Popov, E. Rignot, D. M. Rippin, A. Rivera, J. Roberts, N. Ross, M. J. Siegert, A. M. Smith, D. Steinhage, M. Studinger, B. Sun, B. K. Tinto, B. C. Welch, D. Wilson, D. A. Young, C. Xiangbin, and A. Zirizzotti
The Cryosphere, 7, 375–393, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-375-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-375-2013, 2013
S. H. Doyle, A. L. Hubbard, C. F. Dow, G. A. Jones, A. Fitzpatrick, A. Gusmeroli, B. Kulessa, K. Lindback, R. Pettersson, and J. E. Box
The Cryosphere, 7, 129–140, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-129-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-129-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Discipline: Ice sheets | Subject: Ice Shelf
Extreme melting at Greenland's largest floating ice tongue
The complex basal morphology and ice dynamics of the Nansen Ice Shelf, East Antarctica
Responses of Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers to Melt and Sliding Parameterizations
Unveiling spatial variability within the Dotson Melt Channel through high-resolution basal melt rates from the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica
Brief communication: Is vertical shear in an ice shelf (still) negligible?
Coupled ice/ocean interactions during the future retreat of West Antarctic ice streams
Change in Antarctic ice shelf area from 2009 to 2019
Predicting ocean-induced ice-shelf melt rates using deep learning
Glaciological history and structural evolution of the Shackleton Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica, over the past 60 years
An assessment of basal melt parameterisations for Antarctic ice shelves
Surface melt on the Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica (2003–2021)
The effect of hydrology and crevasse wall contact on calving
On the evolution of an ice shelf melt channel at the base of Filchner Ice Shelf, from observations and viscoelastic modeling
Ongoing grounding line retreat and fracturing initiated at the Petermann Glacier ice shelf, Greenland, after 2016
Shear-margin melting causes stronger transient ice discharge than ice-stream melting in idealized simulations
Basal melt of the southern Filchner Ice Shelf, Antarctica
Automatic delineation of cracks with Sentinel-1 interferometry for monitoring ice shelf damage and calving
Weakening of the pinning point buttressing Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica
Ice-shelf ocean boundary layer dynamics from large-eddy simulations
The potential of synthetic aperture radar interferometry for assessing meltwater lake dynamics on Antarctic ice shelves
Two decades of dynamic change and progressive destabilization on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf
Mechanics and dynamics of pinning points on the Shirase Coast, West Antarctica
Evidence for a grounding line fan at the onset of a basal channel under the ice shelf of Support Force Glacier, Antarctica, revealed by reflection seismics
The 32-year record-high surface melt in 2019/2020 on the northern George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula
The 2020 Larsen C Ice Shelf surface melt is a 40-year record high
Diagnosing the sensitivity of grounding-line flux to changes in sub-ice-shelf melting
A protocol for calculating basal melt rates in the ISMIP6 Antarctic ice sheet projections
Lateral meltwater transfer across an Antarctic ice shelf
Ice shelf rift propagation: stability, three-dimensional effects, and the role of marginal weakening
Getz Ice Shelf melt enhanced by freshwater discharge from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar for tide modelling in Antarctic ice-shelf grounding zones
Ice shelf basal melt rates from a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) record for Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica
Past and future dynamics of the Brunt Ice Shelf from seabed bathymetry and ice shelf geometry
Ole Zeising, Niklas Neckel, Nils Dörr, Veit Helm, Daniel Steinhage, Ralph Timmermann, and Angelika Humbert
The Cryosphere, 18, 1333–1357, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1333-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1333-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The 79° North Glacier in Greenland has experienced significant changes over the last decades. Due to extreme melt rates, the ice has thinned significantly in the vicinity of the grounding line, where a large subglacial channel has formed since 2010. We attribute these changes to warm ocean currents and increased subglacial discharge from surface melt. However, basal melting has decreased since 2018, indicating colder water inflow into the cavity below the glacier.
Christine F. Dow, Derek Mueller, Peter Wray, Drew Friedrichs, Alexander L. Forrest, Jasmin B. McInerney, Jamin Greenbaum, Donald D. Blankenship, Choon Ki Lee, and Won Sang Lee
The Cryosphere, 18, 1105–1123, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1105-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1105-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ice shelves are a key control on Antarctic contribution to sea level rise. We examine the Nansen Ice Shelf in East Antarctica using a combination of field-based and satellite data. We find the basal topography of the ice shelf is highly variable, only partially visible in satellite datasets. We also find that the thinnest region of the ice shelf is altered over time by ice flow rates and ocean melting. These processes can cause fractures to form that eventually result in large calving events.
Ian Joughin, Daniel Shapero, and Pierre Dutrieux
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2929, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2929, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are losing ice to the ocean rapidly as warmer water melts their floating ice shelves. Models help determine how much such glaciers will contribute to sea level. We find that ice loss varies in direct proportion to how much melting the ice shelves are subjected to. Our estimated losses are sensitive to how much the friction beneath the glacier is reduced before it goes afloat. These glaciers should increase sea level by less than 10 cm in the next 200 years.
Ann-Sofie Priergaard Zinck, Bert Wouters, Erwin Lambert, and Stef Lhermitte
The Cryosphere, 17, 3785–3801, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3785-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3785-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The ice shelves in Antarctica are melting from below, which puts their stability at risk. Therefore, it is important to observe how much and where they are melting. In this study we use high-resolution satellite imagery to derive 50 m resolution basal melt rates of the Dotson Ice Shelf. With the high resolution of our product we are able to uncover small-scale features which may in the future help us to understand the state and fate of the Antarctic ice shelves and their (in)stability.
Chris Miele, Timothy C. Bartholomaus, and Ellyn M. Enderlin
The Cryosphere, 17, 2701–2704, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2701-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2701-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Vertical shear stress (the stress orientation usually associated with vertical gradients in horizontal velocities) is a key component of the stress balance of ice shelves. However, partly due to historical assumptions, vertical shear is often misspoken of today as
negligiblein ice shelf models. We address this miscommunication, providing conceptual guidance regarding this often misrepresented stress. Fundamentally, vertical shear is required to balance thickness gradients in ice shelves.
David T. Bett, Alexander T. Bradley, C. Rosie Williams, Paul R. Holland, Robert J. Arthern, and Daniel N. Goldberg
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-77, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-77, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for TC
Short summary
Short summary
A new specialised ice/ocean coupled model simulates the future ice sheet evolution in the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica. The model predicts substantial ocean-driven ice retreat over the 125-year simulations. The future of small ‘pinning points’ (islands of grounded ice) are an important control on this evolution. Ocean melting is crucial in ungrounding these pinning points, providing the mechanism by which future climate change may affect the sea level contribution from this sector.
Julia R. Andreasen, Anna E. Hogg, and Heather L. Selley
The Cryosphere, 17, 2059–2072, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2059-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2059-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
There are few long-term, high spatial resolution observations of ice shelf change in Antarctica over the past 3 decades. In this study, we use high spatial resolution observations to map the annual calving front location on 34 ice shelves around Antarctica from 2009 to 2019 using satellite data. The results provide a comprehensive assessment of ice front migration across Antarctica over the last decade.
Sebastian H. R. Rosier, Christopher Y. S. Bull, Wai L. Woo, and G. Hilmar Gudmundsson
The Cryosphere, 17, 499–518, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-499-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-499-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Future ice loss from Antarctica could raise sea levels by several metres, and key to this is the rate at which the ocean melts the ice sheet from below. Existing methods for modelling this process are either computationally expensive or very simplified. We present a new approach using machine learning to mimic the melt rates calculated by an ocean model but in a fraction of the time. This approach may provide a powerful alternative to existing methods, without compromising on accuracy or speed.
Sarah S. Thompson, Bernd Kulessa, Adrian Luckman, Jacqueline A. Halpin, Jamin S. Greenbaum, Tyler Pelle, Feras Habbal, Jingxue Guo, Lenneke M. Jong, Jason L. Roberts, Bo Sun, and Donald D. Blankenship
The Cryosphere, 17, 157–174, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-157-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-157-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We use satellite imagery and ice penetrating radar to investigate the stability of the Shackleton system in East Antarctica. We find significant changes in surface structures across the system and observe a significant increase in ice flow speed (up to 50 %) on the floating part of Scott Glacier. We conclude that knowledge remains woefully insufficient to explain recent observed changes in the grounded and floating regions of the system.
Clara Burgard, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Ronja Reese, Adrian Jenkins, and Pierre Mathiot
The Cryosphere, 16, 4931–4975, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4931-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4931-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The ocean-induced melt at the base of the floating ice shelves around Antarctica is one of the largest uncertainty factors in the Antarctic contribution to future sea-level rise. We assess the performance of several existing parameterisations in simulating basal melt rates on a circum-Antarctic scale, using an ocean simulation resolving the cavities below the shelves as our reference. We find that the simple quadratic slope-independent and plume parameterisations yield the best compromise.
Dominic Saunderson, Andrew Mackintosh, Felicity McCormack, Richard Selwyn Jones, and Ghislain Picard
The Cryosphere, 16, 4553–4569, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the variability in surface melt on the Shackleton Ice Shelf in East Antarctica over the last 2 decades (2003–2021). Using daily satellite observations and the machine learning approach of a self-organising map, we identify nine distinct spatial patterns of melt. These patterns allow comparisons of melt within and across melt seasons and highlight the importance of both air temperatures and local controls such as topography, katabatic winds, and albedo in driving surface melt.
Maryam Zarrinderakht, Christian Schoof, and Anthony Peirce
The Cryosphere, 16, 4491–4512, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4491-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4491-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Iceberg calving is the reason for more than half of mass loss in both Greenland and Antarctica and indirectly contributes to sea-level rise. Our study models iceberg calving by linear elastic fracture mechanics and uses a boundary element method to compute crack tip propagation. This model handles the contact condition: preventing crack faces from penetrating into each other and enabling the derivation of calving laws for different forms of hydrological forcing.
Angelika Humbert, Julia Christmann, Hugh F. J. Corr, Veit Helm, Lea-Sophie Höyns, Coen Hofstede, Ralf Müller, Niklas Neckel, Keith W. Nicholls, Timm Schultz, Daniel Steinhage, Michael Wolovick, and Ole Zeising
The Cryosphere, 16, 4107–4139, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4107-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4107-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Ice shelves are normally flat structures that fringe the Antarctic continent. At some locations they have channels incised into their underside. On Filchner Ice Shelf, such a channel is more than 50 km long and up to 330 m high. We conducted field measurements of basal melt rates and found a maximum of 2 m yr−1. Simulations represent the geometry evolution of the channel reasonably well. There is no reason to assume that this type of melt channel is destabilizing ice shelves.
Romain Millan, Jeremie Mouginot, Anna Derkacheva, Eric Rignot, Pietro Milillo, Enrico Ciraci, Luigi Dini, and Anders Bjørk
The Cryosphere, 16, 3021–3031, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3021-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3021-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We detect for the first time a dramatic retreat of the grounding line of Petermann Glacier, a major glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Using satellite data, we also observe a speedup of the glacier and a fracturing of the ice shelf. This sequence of events is coherent with ocean warming in this region and suggests that Petermann Glacier has initiated a phase of destabilization, which is of prime importance for the stability and future contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level rise.
Johannes Feldmann, Ronja Reese, Ricarda Winkelmann, and Anders Levermann
The Cryosphere, 16, 1927–1940, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1927-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1927-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We use a numerical model to simulate the flow of a simplified, buttressed Antarctic-type outlet glacier with an attached ice shelf. We find that after a few years of perturbation such a glacier responds much stronger to melting under the ice-shelf shear margins than to melting in the central fast streaming part of the ice shelf. This study explains the underlying physical mechanism which might gain importance in the future if melt rates under the Antarctic ice shelves continue to increase.
Ole Zeising, Daniel Steinhage, Keith W. Nicholls, Hugh F. J. Corr, Craig L. Stewart, and Angelika Humbert
The Cryosphere, 16, 1469–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1469-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1469-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Remote-sensing-derived basal melt rates of ice shelves are of great importance due to their capability to cover larger areas. We performed in situ measurements with a phase-sensitive radar on the southern Filchner Ice Shelf, showing moderate melt rates and low small-scale spatial variability. The comparison with remote-sensing-based melt rates revealed large differences caused by the estimation of vertical strain rates from remote sensing velocity fields that modern fields can overcome.
Ludivine Libert, Jan Wuite, and Thomas Nagler
The Cryosphere, 16, 1523–1542, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1523-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1523-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Open fractures are important to monitor because they weaken the ice shelf structure. We propose a novel approach using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry for automatic delineation of ice shelf cracks. The method is applied to Sentinel-1 images of Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the propagation of the North Rift, which led to iceberg calving in February 2021, is traced. It is also shown that SAR interferometry is more sensitive to rifting than SAR backscatter and optical imagery.
Christian T. Wild, Karen E. Alley, Atsuhiro Muto, Martin Truffer, Ted A. Scambos, and Erin C. Pettit
The Cryosphere, 16, 397–417, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-397-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-397-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Thwaites Glacier has the potential to significantly raise Antarctica's contribution to global sea-level rise by the end of this century. Here, we use satellite measurements of surface elevation to show that its floating part is close to losing contact with an underwater ridge that currently acts to stabilize. We then use computer models of ice flow to simulate the predicted unpinning, which show that accelerated ice discharge into the ocean follows the breakup of the floating part.
Carolyn Branecky Begeman, Xylar Asay-Davis, and Luke Van Roekel
The Cryosphere, 16, 277–295, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-277-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-277-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses ocean modeling at ultra-high resolution to study the small-scale ocean mixing that controls ice-shelf melting. It offers some insights into the relationship between ice-shelf melting and ocean temperature far from the ice base, which may help us project how fast ice will melt when ocean waters entering the cavity warm. This study adds to a growing body of research that indicates we need a more sophisticated treatment of ice-shelf melting in coarse-resolution ocean models.
Weiran Li, Stef Lhermitte, and Paco López-Dekker
The Cryosphere, 15, 5309–5322, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5309-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5309-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Surface meltwater lakes have been observed on several Antarctic ice shelves in field studies and optical images. Meltwater lakes can drain and refreeze, increasing the fragility of the ice shelves. The combination of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter and interferometric information (InSAR) can provide the cryosphere community with the possibility to continuously assess the dynamics of the meltwater lakes, potentially helping to facilitate the study of ice shelves in a changing climate.
Karen E. Alley, Christian T. Wild, Adrian Luckman, Ted A. Scambos, Martin Truffer, Erin C. Pettit, Atsuhiro Muto, Bruce Wallin, Marin Klinger, Tyler Sutterley, Sarah F. Child, Cyrus Hulen, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Michelle Maclennan, Eric Keenan, and Devon Dunmire
The Cryosphere, 15, 5187–5203, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5187-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5187-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 20-year, satellite-based record of velocity and thickness change on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS), the largest remaining floating extension of Thwaites Glacier (TG). TG holds the single greatest control on sea-level rise over the next few centuries, so it is important to understand changes on the TEIS, which controls much of TG's flow into the ocean. Our results suggest that the TEIS is progressively destabilizing and is likely to disintegrate over the next few decades.
Holly Still and Christina Hulbe
The Cryosphere, 15, 2647–2665, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2647-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2647-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Pinning points, locations where floating ice shelves run aground, modify ice flow and thickness. We use a model to quantify the Ross Ice Shelf and tributary ice stream response to a group of pinning points. Ice stream sensitivity to pinning points is conditioned by basal drag, and thus basal properties, upstream of the grounding line. Without the pinning points, a redistribution of resistive stresses supports faster flow and increased mass flux but with a negligible change in total ice volume.
Coen Hofstede, Sebastian Beyer, Hugh Corr, Olaf Eisen, Tore Hattermann, Veit Helm, Niklas Neckel, Emma C. Smith, Daniel Steinhage, Ole Zeising, and Angelika Humbert
The Cryosphere, 15, 1517–1535, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1517-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1517-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Support Force Glacier rapidly flows into Filcher Ice Shelf of Antarctica. As we know little about this glacier and its subglacial drainage, we used seismic energy to map the transition area from grounded to floating ice where a drainage channel enters the ocean cavity. Soft sediments close to the grounding line are probably transported by this drainage channel. The constant ice thickness over the steeply dipping seabed of the ocean cavity suggests a stable transition and little basal melting.
Alison F. Banwell, Rajashree Tri Datta, Rebecca L. Dell, Mahsa Moussavi, Ludovic Brucker, Ghislain Picard, Christopher A. Shuman, and Laura A. Stevens
The Cryosphere, 15, 909–925, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-909-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-909-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Ice shelves are thick floating layers of glacier ice extending from the glaciers on land that buttress much of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and help to protect it from losing ice to the ocean. However, the stability of ice shelves is vulnerable to meltwater lakes that form on their surfaces during the summer. This study focuses on the northern George VI Ice Shelf on the western side of the AP, which had an exceptionally long and extensive melt season in 2019/2020 compared to the previous 31 seasons.
Suzanne Bevan, Adrian Luckman, Harry Hendon, and Guomin Wang
The Cryosphere, 14, 3551–3564, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3551-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3551-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In February 2020, along with record-breaking high temperatures in the region, satellite images showed that the surface of the largest remaining ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula was experiencing a lot of melt. Using archived satellite data we show that this melt was greater than any in the past 40 years. The extreme melt followed unusual weather patterns further north, highlighting the importance of long-range links between the tropics and high latitudes and the impact on ice-shelf stability.
Tong Zhang, Stephen F. Price, Matthew J. Hoffman, Mauro Perego, and Xylar Asay-Davis
The Cryosphere, 14, 3407–3424, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3407-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3407-2020, 2020
Nicolas C. Jourdain, Xylar Asay-Davis, Tore Hattermann, Fiammetta Straneo, Hélène Seroussi, Christopher M. Little, and Sophie Nowicki
The Cryosphere, 14, 3111–3134, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3111-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3111-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
To predict the future Antarctic contribution to sea level rise, we need to use ice sheet models. The Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for AR6 (ISMIP6) builds an ensemble of ice sheet projections constrained by atmosphere and ocean projections from the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). In this work, we present and assess a method to derive ice shelf basal melting in ISMIP6 from the CMIP6 ocean outputs, and we give examples of projected melt rates.
Rebecca Dell, Neil Arnold, Ian Willis, Alison Banwell, Andrew Williamson, Hamish Pritchard, and Andrew Orr
The Cryosphere, 14, 2313–2330, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2313-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2313-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A semi-automated method is developed from pre-existing work to track surface water bodies across Antarctic ice shelves over time, using data from Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8. This method is applied to the Nivlisen Ice Shelf for the 2016–2017 melt season. The results reveal two large linear meltwater systems, which hold 63 % of the peak total surface meltwater volume on 26 January 2017. These meltwater systems migrate towards the ice shelf front as the melt season progresses.
Bradley Paul Lipovsky
The Cryosphere, 14, 1673–1683, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1673-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1673-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Ice shelves promote the stability of marine ice sheets and therefore reduce the ice sheet contribution to sea level rise. Ice shelf rifts are through-cutting fractures that jeopardize this stabilizing tendency. Here, I carry out the first-ever 3D modeling of ice shelf rifts. I find that the overall ice shelf geometry – particularly the ice shelf margins – alters rift stability. This work paves the way to a more realistic depiction of rifting in ice sheet models.
Wei Wei, Donald D. Blankenship, Jamin S. Greenbaum, Noel Gourmelen, Christine F. Dow, Thomas G. Richter, Chad A. Greene, Duncan A. Young, SangHoon Lee, Tae-Wan Kim, Won Sang Lee, and Karen M. Assmann
The Cryosphere, 14, 1399–1408, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1399-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1399-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Getz Ice Shelf is the largest meltwater source from Antarctica of the Southern Ocean. This study compares the relative importance of the meltwater production of Getz from both ocean and subglacial sources. We show that basal melt rates are elevated where bathymetric troughs provide pathways for warm Circumpolar Deep Water to enter the Getz Ice Shelf cavity. In particular, we find that subshelf melting is enhanced where subglacially discharged fresh water flows across the grounding line.
Christian T. Wild, Oliver J. Marsh, and Wolfgang Rack
The Cryosphere, 13, 3171–3191, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3171-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3171-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In Antarctica, ocean tides control the motion of ice sheets near the coastline as well as melt rates underneath the floating ice. By combining the spatial advantage of rare but highly accurate satellite images with the temporal advantage of tide-prediction models, vertical displacement of floating ice due to ocean tides can now be predicted accurately. This allows the detailed study of ice-flow dynamics in areas that matter the most to the stability of Antarctica's ice sheets.
David E. Shean, Ian R. Joughin, Pierre Dutrieux, Benjamin E. Smith, and Etienne Berthier
The Cryosphere, 13, 2633–2656, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2633-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2633-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We produced an 8-year, high-resolution DEM record for Pine Island Glacier (PIG), a site of substantial Antarctic mass loss in recent decades. We developed methods to study the spatiotemporal evolution of ice shelf basal melting, which is responsible for ~ 60 % of PIG mass loss. We present shelf-wide basal melt rates and document relative melt rates for kilometer-scale basal channels and keels, offering new indirect observations of ice–ocean interaction beneath a vulnerable ice shelf.
Dominic A. Hodgson, Tom A. Jordan, Jan De Rydt, Peter T. Fretwell, Samuel A. Seddon, David Becker, Kelly A. Hogan, Andrew M. Smith, and David G. Vaughan
The Cryosphere, 13, 545–556, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-545-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-545-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica is home to Halley VIa, the latest in a series of six British research stations that have occupied the ice shelf since 1956. A recent rapid growth of rifts in the Brunt Ice Shelf signals the onset of its largest calving event since records began. Here we consider whether this calving event will lead to a new steady state for the ice shelf or an unpinning from the bed, which could predispose it to accelerated flow or collapse.
Cited articles
Adusumilli, S., Fricker, H. A., Siegfried, M. R., Padman, L., Paolo, F. S.,
and Ligtenberg, S. R. M.: Variable Basal Melt Rates of Antarctic Peninsula
Ice Shelves, 1994–2016, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 4086–4095,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076652, 2018.
Alley, K. E., Scambos, T. A., Siegfried, M. R., and Fricker, H. A.: Impacts
of warm water on Antarctic ice shelf stability through basal channel
formation, Nat. Geosci., 9, 290–293, https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2675, 2016.
Anschütz, H., Eisen, O., Oerter, H., Steinhage, D., and Scheinert, M.:
Investigating small-scale variations of the recent accumulation rate in
coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, Ann. Glaciol., 46, 14–21, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756407782871756,
2007.
Arndt, J. E., Schenke, H. W., Jakobsson, M., Nitsche, F. O., Buys, G., Goleby, B., Rebesco, M., Bohoyo, F., Hong, J., Black, J., Greku, R., Udintsev, G., Barrios, F., Reynoso‐Peralta, W., Taisei, M., and Wigley, R.: The International Bathymetric Chart of the
Southern Ocean (IBCSO) Version 1.0 – A new bathymetric compilation
covering circum-Antarctic waters, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 3111–3117,
https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50413, 2013.
Bamber, J. L., Westaway, R. M., Marzeion, B., and Wouters, B.: The land ice
contribution to sea level during the satellite era, Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 063008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac2f0,
2018.
Berger, S., Drews, R., Helm, V., Sun, S., and Pattyn, F.: Detecting high spatial variability of ice shelf basal mass balance, Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf, Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 11, 2675–2690, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2675-2017, 2017.
Bindschadler, R., Vornberger, P., Fleming, A., Fox, A., Mullins, J., Binnie,
D., Paulsen, S. J., Granneman, B., and Gorodetzky, D.: Remote Sensing of
Environment The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica, Remote Sens. Environ.,
112, 4214–4226, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.07.006, 2008.
Borstad, C. P., Rignot, E., Mouginot, J., and Schodlok, M. P.: Creep deformation and buttressing capacity of damaged ice shelves: theory and application to Larsen C ice shelf, The Cryosphere, 7, 1931–1947, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1931-2013, 2013.
Brennan, P. V, Lok, L. B., Nicholls, K., and Corr, H.: Phase-sensitive FMCW
radar system for high-precision Antarctic ice shelf profile monitoring, IET
Radar Sonar Navig., 8, 776–786, https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-rsn.2013.0053, 2014.
British Antarctic Survey: Instrument: Phase-sensitive radar (ApRES), available at:
https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/phase-sensitive-radar-apres/,
last access: 13 November 2018.
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): ERA5: Fifth generation of ECMWF
atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate, Copernicus Clim. Chang. Serv.
Clim. Data Store, available at:
https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era5
(last access: 1 November 2018), 2017.
Corr, H. F. J., Jenkins, A., Nicholls, K. W., and Doake, C. S. M.: Precise
measurement of changes in ice-shelf thickness by phase-sensitive radar to
determine basal melt rates, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1232, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL014618, 2002.
Darelius, E. and Sallée, J. B.: Seasonal Outflow of Ice Shelf Water
Across the Front of the Filchner Ice Shelf, Weddell Sea, Antarctica,
Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 3577–3585, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076320, 2017.
Davis, P. E. D., Jenkins, A., Nicholls, K. W., Brennan, P. V., Povl Abrahamsen, E., Heywood, K. J., Dutrieux, P., Cho, K.-H., Kim, T.-W., and
Povl Abrahamsen, E.: Variability in Basal
Melting Beneath Pine Island Ice Shelf on Weekly to Monthly Timescales, J.
Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 123, 8655–8669, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014464, 2018.
Depoorter, M. A., Bamber, J. L., Griggs, J. A., Lenaerts, J. T. M.,
Ligtenberg, S. R. M., van Den Broeke, M. R., and Moholdt, G.: Calving fluxes
and basal melt rates of Antarctic ice shelves, Nature, 502, 89–92,
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12567, 2013.
De Santis, A., Maier, E., Gomez, R., and Gonzalez, I.: Antarctica, 1979–2016
sea ice extent: total versus regional trends, anomalies, and correlation
with climatological variables, Int. J. Remote Sens., 38, 7566–7584,
https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2017.1363440, 2017.
Dong, J., Speer, K., and Jullion, L.: The Antarctic Slope Current near 30 deg
E, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 121, 1051–1062, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JC011099, 2016.
Dowdeswell, J. A. and Evans, S.: Investigations of the form and flow of ice
sheets and glaciers using radio-echo sounding, Reports Prog. Phys., 67,
1821–1861, https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/67/10/R03, 2004.
Dupont, T. K. and Alley, R. B.: Assessment of the importance of ice-shelf
buttressing to ice-sheet flow, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, 1–4,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL022024, 2005.
Favier, L., Gagliardini, O., Durand, G., and Zwinger, T.: A three-dimensional full Stokes model of the grounding line dynamics: effect of a pinning point beneath the ice shelf, The Cryosphere, 6, 101–112, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-101-2012, 2012.
Förste, C., Bruinsma, S. L., Abrikosov, O., Lemoine, J.-M., Marty, J. C., Flechtner, F., Balmino, G., Barthelmes, F., and Biancale, R.: EIGEN-6C4 The latest combined global gravity field model including GOCE data up to degree and order 2190 of GFZ Potsdam and GRGS Toulouse, GFZ Data Serv., https://doi.org/10.5880/icgem.2015.1, 2014.
Fretwell, P., Pritchard, H. D., Vaughan, D. G., Bamber, J. L., Barrand, N. E., Bell, R., Bianchi, C., Bingham, R. G., Blankenship, D. D., Casassa, G., Catania, G., Callens, D., Conway, H., Cook, A. J., Corr, H. F. J., Damaske, D., Damm, V., Ferraccioli, F., Forsberg, R., Fujita, S., Gim, Y., Gogineni, P., Griggs, J. A., Hindmarsh, R. C. A., Holmlund, P., Holt, J. W., Jacobel, R. W., Jenkins, A., Jokat, W., Jordan, T., King, E. C., Kohler, J., Krabill, W., Riger-Kusk, M., Langley, K. A., Leitchenkov, G., Leuschen, C., Luyendyk, B. P., Matsuoka, K., Mouginot, J., Nitsche, F. O., Nogi, Y., Nost, O. A., Popov, S. V., Rignot, E., Rippin, D. M., Rivera, A., Roberts, J., Ross, N., Siegert, M. J., Smith, A. M., Steinhage, D., Studinger, M., Sun, B., Tinto, B. K., Welch, B. C., Wilson, D., Young, D. A., Xiangbin, C., and Zirizzotti, A.: Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 7, 375–393, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-375-2013, 2013.
Gille, S. T.: Warming of the Southern Ocean Since the 1950s, Science, 295,
1275–1277, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1065863, 2002.
Gingele, F. X., Kuhn, G., Maus, B., Melles, M., and Schöne, T.: Holocene
ice retreat from the Lazarev Sea shelf, East Antarctica, Cont. Shelf Res.,
17, 137–163, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-4343(96)00026-X, 1997.
Gladish, C. V., Holland, D. M., Holland, P. R., and Price, S. F.: Ice-shelf
basal channels in a coupled ice/ocean model, J. Glaciol., 58,
1227–1244, https://doi.org/10.3189/2012JoG12J003, 2012.
Gladstone, R. M., Lee, V., Rougier, J., Payne, A. J., Hellmer, H., Le, A., Shepherd, A., Edwards, T. L., Gregory, J., and Cornford, S. L.: Calibrated prediction of Pine Island Glacier retreat during the 21st and 22nd centuries with a coupled flowline model, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 333–334, 191–199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2012.04.022, 2012.
Goel, V., Matsuoka, K., Berger, C. D., Lee, I., Dall, J., and Forsberg, R.: Characteristics of Ice Rises and Ice Rumples in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, J. Glaciol., in review, 2019.
Greene, C. A., Blankenship, D. D., Gwyther, D. E., Silvano, A., and van Wijk, E.: Wind causes Totten Ice Shelf melt and acceleration, Sci. Adv., 3, 1–5,
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701681, 2017.
Grinsted, A., Moore, J. C., and Jevrejeva, S.: Application of the cross wavelet transform and wavelet coherence to geophysical time series, Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 11, 561–566, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-11-561-2004, 2004.
Hattermann, T.: Antarctic Thermocline Dynamics along a Narrow Shelf with
Easterly Winds, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 48, 2419–2442,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-18-0064.1, 2018.
Hattermann, T., Nøst, O. A., Lilly, J. M., and Smedsrud, L. H.: Two years
of oceanic observations below the Fimbul Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 39, L12605, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051012, 2012.
Hattermann, T., Smedsrud, L. H., Nøst, O. A., Lilly, J. M., and
Galton-Fenzi, B. K.: Eddy-resolving simulations of the Fimbul Ice Shelf
cavity circulation: Basal melting and exchange with open ocean, Ocean
Model., 82, 28–44, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2014.07.004, 2014.
Hazel, J. E. and Stewart, A. L.: Are the Near-Antarctic Easterly Winds
Weakening in Response to Enhancement of the Southern Annular Mode?, J.
Climate, 32, 1895–1918, https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-18-0402.1, 2019.
Hellmer, H., Kauker, F., Timmermann, R., and Hattermann, T.: The Fate of
the Southern Weddell Sea Continental Shelf in a Warming Climate, J. Climate,
30, 4337–4350, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0420.1, 2017.
Heywood, K. J., Locarnini, R. A., Frew, R. D., Dennis, P. F., and King, B.
A.: Transport and water masses of the Antarctic slope front system in the
eastern Weddell Sea, Ocean, Ice, Atmos. Interact. Antarct. Cont. Margin,
24, 203–214, https://doi.org/10.1029/ar075p0203, 1998.
Hogg, A. E. and Gudmundsson, G. H.: Impacts of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf
calving event, Nat. Clim. Change, 7, 540–542, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3359,
2017.
Holland, P. R., Brisbourne, A., Corr, H. F. J., McGrath, D., Purdon, K., Paden, J., Fricker, H. A., Paolo, F. S., and Fleming, A. H.: Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of Larsen C Ice-Shelf thinning, The Cryosphere, 9, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1005-2015, 2015.
Horwath, M., Dietrich, R., Baessler, M., Nixdorf, U., Steinhage, D.,
Fritzsche, D., Damm, V., and Reitmayr, G.: Nivlisen, an Antarctic ice shelf
in Dronning Maud Land: geodetic – glaciological results from a combined
analysis of ice thickness, ice surface height and ice-flow observations, J.
Glaciol., 52, 17–30, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756506781828953, 2006.
Howat, I. M., Porter, C., Smith, B. E., Noh, M.-J., and Morin, P.: The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 13, 665–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-665-2019, 2019.
IMBIE Team: Mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2017,
Nature, 558, 219–222, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0179-y, 2018.
Irving, J. D., Knoll, M. D., and Knight, R. J.: Improving crosshole radar
velocity tomograms: A new approach to incorporating high-angle traveltime
data, Geophysics, 72, 31–41, https://doi.org/10.1190/1.2742813, 2007.
Jacobs, S. S., Helmer, H. H., Doake, C. S. M., Jenkins, A., and Frolich, R. M.:
Melting of ice shelves and the mass balance of Antarctica, J. Glaciol.,
38, 375–387, https://doi.org/10.3189/S0022143000002252, 1992.
Jenkins, A. and Doake, C. S. M.: Ice-ocean interaction on Ronne Ice Shelf,
Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 96, 791–813,
https://doi.org/10.1029/90JC01952, 1991.
Jenkins, A., Corr, H. F. J., Nicholls, K. W., Stewart, C. L., and Doake, C.
S. M.: Interactions between ice and ocean observed with phase-sensitive
radar near an Antarctic ice-shelf grounding line, J. Glaciol., 52,
325–346, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756506781828502, 2006.
Jenkins, A., Dutrieux, P., Jacobs, S. S., McPhail, S. D., Perrett, J. R., Webb, A. T., and White, D.: Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat, Nat. Geosci., 3, 468, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo890, 2010.
Joughin, I. and Vaughan, D. G.: Marine ice beneath the Filchner-Ronne Ice
Shelf, Antarctica: a comparison of estimated thickness distributions, Ann.
Glaciol., 39, 511–517, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756404781814717, 2004.
Kingslake, J., Ng, F., and Sole, A.: Modelling channelized surface drainage
of supraglacial lakes, J. Glaciol., 61, 185–199,
https://doi.org/10.3189/2015JoG14J158, 2015.
Kusahara, K. and Hasumi, H.: Modeling Antarctic ice shelf responses to
future climate changes and impacts on the ocean Ž, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 118, 2454–2475, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrc.20166, 2013.
Kwok, R. and Comiso, J.: Southern Ocean Climate and Sea Ice Anomalies
Associated with the Southern Oscillation, J. Climate, 15, 487–501, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<0487:SOCASI>2.0.CO;2, 2002.
Kwok, R., Comiso, J. C., Lee, T., and Holland, P. R.: Linked trends in the
South Pacific sea ice edge and Southern Oscillation Index, J. Geophys. Res.,
43, 295–302, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070655, 2016.
Langley, K., von Deschwanden, A., Kohler, J., Sinisalo, A., Matsuoka, K.,
Hattermann, T., Humbert, A., Nøst, O. A., and Isaksson, E.: Complex
network of channels beneath an Antarctic ice shelf, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41,
1209–1215, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058947, 2014a.
Langley, K., Kohler, J., Sinisalo, A., Øyan, M. J., Hamran, S. E.,
Hattermann, T., Matsuoka, K., Nøst, O. A., and Isaksson, E.: Low melt
rates with seasonal variability at the base of Fimbul Ice Shelf, East
Antarctica, revealed by in situ interferometric radar measurements, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 41, 8138–8146, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL061782, 2014b.
Lapazaran, J. J., Otero, J., Martín-Español, A., and Navarro, F. J.: On the errors involved in
ice-thickness estimates I: ground- penetrating radar measurement errors, J.
Glaciol., 62, 1008–1020, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.93, 2016.
Lenaerts, J. T. M., Brown, J., van den Broeke, M. R., Matsuoka,
K., Drews, R., Callens, D., Philippe, M., Gorodetskaya, I. V., van Meijgaard, E., Reijmer, C. H., Pattyn, F., and van Lipzig, N. P. M.: High
variability of climate and surface mass balance induced by Antarctic ice
rises, J. Glaciol., 60, 1101–1110, https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG14J040, 2014.
Lenaerts, J. T. M., Lhermitte, S., Drews, R., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Berger, S., Helm, V., Smeets, C. J. P. P., van den Broeke, M. R., van de Berg, W. J., van Meijgaard, E., Eijkelboom, M., Eisen, O., and Pattyn, F.: Meltwater produced by wind – albedo interaction stored in
an East Antarctic ice shelf, Nat. Clim. Change, 7, 58–63,
https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE3180, 2017.
Lindbäck, K., Pettersson, R., Doyle, S. H., Helanow, C., Jansson, P., Kristensen, S. S., Stenseng, L., Forsberg, R., and Hubbard, A. L.: High-resolution ice thickness and bed topography of a land-terminating section of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 6, 331–338, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-331-2014, 2014.
Lindbäck, K., Kohler, J., Pettersson, R., Nuth, C., Langley, K., Messerli, A., Vallot, D., Matsuoka, K., and Brandt, O.: Subglacial topography, ice thickness, and bathymetry of Kongsfjorden, northwestern Svalbard, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1769–1781, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1769-2018, 2018.
Makinson, K. and Nicholls, K. W.: Modeling tidal currents beneath
Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and on the adjacent continental shelf: Their effect
on mixing and transport, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 104, 13449–13465,
https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jc900008, 1999.
Malyarenko, A., Robinson, N. J., Williams, M. J. M., and Langhorne, P. J.: A
wedge mechanism for summer surface water inflow into the Ross Ice Shelf
cavity, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 124, 1196–1214, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jc014594, 2019.
Marsh, O. J., Fricker, H. A., Siegfried, M. R., Christianson, K., Nicholls,
K. W., Corr, H. F. J., and Catania, G.: High basal melting forming a channel
at the grounding line of Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett.,
43, 1–6, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066612, 2016.
Matsuoka, K., Pattyn, F., Callens, D., and Conway, H.: Radar characterization
of the basal interface across the grounding zone of an ice-rise promontory
in East Antarctica, Ann. Glaciol., 53, 29–34,
https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A106, 2012.
Matsuoka, K., Hindmarsh, R. C. A., Moholdt, G., Bentley, M. J., Pritchard, H. D., Brown, J., Conway, H., Drews, R., Durand, G., Goldberg, D., Hattermann, T., Kingslake, J., Lenaerts, J. T. M., Martín, C., Mulvaney, R., Nicholls, K. W., Pattyn, F., Ross, N., Scambos, T., and Whitehouse, P. L.: Antarctic ice rises and rumples: Their properties and significance for ice-sheet dynamics and evolution, Earth Sci. Rev., 150, 724–745, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.09.004, 2015.
McGrath, D., Steffen, K., Scambos, T., Rajaram, H., Casassa, G., and
Rodriguez Lagos, J. L.: Basal crevasses and associated surface crevassing on
the Larsen C ice shelf, Antarctica, and their role in ice-shelf instability,
Ann. Glaciol., 53, 10–18, https://doi.org/10.3189/2012AoG60A005, 2012.
Millgate, T., Holland, P. R., Jenkins, A., and Johnson, H. L.: The effect of
basal channels on oceanic ice-shelf melting, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans,
118, 6951–6964, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009402, 2013.
Moholdt, G. and Matsuoka, K.: Inventory of Antarctic ice rises and rumples (version 1) [Dataset], Norwegian Polar Intitute, https://doi.org/10.21334/npolar.2015.9174e644, 2015.
Mouginot, J., Scheuchl, B., and Rignot, E.: MEaSUREs Antarctic Boundaries
for IPY 2007–2009 from Satellite Radar, Version 2, NASA Natl. Snow Ice Data
Cent. Distrib. Act. Arch. Center, https://doi.org/10.5067/AXE4121732AD,
2017.
Mueller, R. D., Padman, L., Dinniman, M. S., Erofeeva, S. Y., Fricker, H. A., and King, M. A.: Impact of tide-topography interactions on basal melting of Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res.-Ocean., 117, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JC007263, 2012.
Mueller, R. D., Hattermann, T., Howard, S. L., and Padman, L.: Tidal influences on a future evolution of the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf cavity in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 12, 453–476, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-453-2018, 2018.
Natural Resources Canada: CSRS-PPP: On-Line GNSS PPP Post-Processing
Service, available at:
http://webapp.geod.nrcan.gc.ca/geod/tools-outils/ppp.php (last access: 1 January 2019), 2017.
Nicholls, K. W., Abrahamsen, E. P., Buck, J. J. H., Dodd, P. A., Goldblatt,
C., Griffiths, G., Heywood, K. J., Hughes, N. E., Kaletzky, A., McPhail, S.
D., Millard, N. W., Oliver, K. I. C., Perrett, J., Price, M. R., Pudsey, C.
J., Saw, K., Stansfield, K., Stott, M. J., Wadhams, P., Webb, A. T., and
Wilkinson, J. P.: Measurements beneath an Antarctic ice shelf using an
autonomous underwater vehicle, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L08612,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL025998, 2006.
Nicholls, K. W., Corr, H. F. J., Stewart, C. L., Lok, L. B., Brennan, P. V.,
and Vaughan, D. G.: Instruments and Methods A ground-based radar for
measuring vertical strain rates and time-varying basal melt rates in ice
sheets and shelves, J. Glaciol., 61, 1079–1087,
https://doi.org/10.3189/2015JoG15J073, 2015.
Norwegian Polar Institute: Norwegian Polar Data Centre, available at:
https://data.npolar.no, last access: 1 September 2019.
Nøst, O. A., Biuw, M., Tverberg, V., Lydersen, C., Hattermann, T., Zhou,
Q., Smedsrud, L. H., and Kovacs, K. M.: Eddy overturning of the Antarctic
Slope Front controls glacial melting in the Eastern Weddell Sea, J. Geophys.
Res.-Oceans, 116, 1–17, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JC006965, 2011.
Paolo, F. S., Fricker, H. A., and Padman, L.: Volume loss from Antarctic ice
shelves is accelerating, Science, 348, 327–332, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa0940, 2015.
Pritchard, H. D., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Fricker, H. A., Vaughan, D. G.,
van Den Broeke, M. R., and Padman, L.: Antarctic ice-sheet loss driven by
basal melting of ice shelves, Nature, 484, 502–505,
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10968, 2012.
Rahman, S.: FMCW Radar Signal Processing for Antarctic Ice Shelf Profiling
and Imaging, Unversity College London, 2016.
Reese, R., Gudmundsson, G. H., Levermann, A., and Winkelmann, R.: The far
reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica, Nat. Clim. Change, 8, 53–57,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x, 2018.
Rignot, E., Mouginot, J., and Scheucht, B.: Ice Flow of the Antarctic Ice
Sheet, Science, 333, 1427–1431, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1208336, 2011.
Rignot, E., Jacobs, S., Mouginot, J., and Scheuchl, B.: Ice-Shelf Melting
Around Antarctica, Science, 341, 266–270, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235798, 2013.
Rignot, E., Mouginot, J., Scheuchl, B., van den Broeke, M. R., van Wessem,
M. J., and Morlighem, M.: Four decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance
from 1979–2017, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116, 1095–1103, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812883116,
2019.
Rintoul, S. R., Silvano, A., Pena-Molino, B., van Wijk, E. Van, Rosenberg, M.,
Greenbaum, J. S., and Blankenship, D. D.: Ocean heat drives rapid basal melt
of the Totten Ice Shelf, Sci. Adv., 2, 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601610, 2016.
Ryan, S., Schröder, M., Huhn, O., and Timmermann, R.: On the warm inflow
at the eastern boundary of the Weddell Gyre, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. I, 107, 70–81, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2015.11.002, 2016.
Schmidtko, S., Heywood, K. J., Thompson, A. F., and Aoki, S.: Multidecadal
warming of Antarctic waters, Science, 346,
1227–1231, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256117, 2014.
Schreiber, T. and Schmitz, A.: Surrogate time series, Physica D, 142,
346–382, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-2789(00)00043-9, 2000.
Shepherd, A., Fricker, H. A., and Farrell, S. L.: Trends and connections
across the Antarctic cryosphere, Nature, 558, 223–232, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0171-6, 2018.
Stanton, T. P., Shaw, W. J., Truffer, M., Corr, H. F. J., Peters, L. E.,
Riverman, K. L., Bindschadler, R. A., Holland, D. M., and Anandakrishnan, S.:
Channelized Ice Melting in the, Science, 341, 1236–1239,
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1239373, 2013.
Stern, A. A., Dinniman, M. S., Zagorodnov, V., Tyler, S. W., and Holland, D.
M.: Intrusion of warm surface water beneath the McMurdo ice shelf,
Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 118, 7036–7048,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC008842, 2013.
Stewart, A. L. and Thompson, A. F.: Eddy Generation and Jet Formation via
Dense Water Outflows across the Antarctic Continental Slope, J. Phys.
Oceanogr., 46, 3729–3750, https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-16-0145.1, 2016.
Stewart, C. L., Christoffersen, P., Nicholls, K. W., Williams, M. J. M., and
Dowdeswell, J. A.: Basal melting of Ross Ice Shelf from solar heat
absorption in an ice-front polynya, Nat. Geosci., 12, 435–440,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0356-0, 2019.
Stuecker, M., Bitz, C., and Armour, K.: Conditions leading to the
unprecedented low Antarctic sea ice extent during the 2016 austral spring
season, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 9008–9019,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074691, 2017.
Sverdrup, H. U.: The Currents off the Coast of Queen Maud Land, Nor. Geogr.
Tidsskr.-Nor. J. Geogr., 14, 239–249,
https://doi.org/10.1080/00291955308542731, 1954.
Swart, N. C., Gille, S. T., Fyfe, J. C., and Gillett, N. P.: Recent Southern
Ocean warming and freshening driven by greenhouse gas emissions and ozone
depletion, Nat. Geosci., 11, 836–842, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0226-1, 2018.
Taylor, J. R.: An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties
in Physical Measurements, University of Colorado, 1996.
Thompson, A. F., Heywood, K. J., Schmidtko, S., and Stewart, A. L.: Eddy
transport as a key component of the Antarctic overturning circulation, Nat.
Geosci., 7, 879–884, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2289, 2014.
Thompson, A. F., Stewart, A. L., Spence, P., and Heywood, K. J.: The
Antarctic Slope Current in a Changing Climate, Rev. Geophys., 56,
741–770, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018RG000624, 2018.
Turner, J. and Comiso, J.: Solve Antarctica's sea-ice puzzle, Nature, 547, 275–277, https://doi.org/10.1038/547275a, 2017.
Turner, J., Hosking, J. S., Bracegirdle, T. J., Marshall, G. J., and
Phillips, T.: Recent changes in Antarctic Subject Areas, Philos. T. R.
Soc. A, 373, 20140163, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0163, 2015.
van de Berg, W. J., van den Broeke, M. R., Reijmer, C. H., and van Meijgaard,
E.: Reassessment of the Antarctic surface mass balance using calibrated
output of a regional atmospheric climate model, J. Geophys. Res., 111,
1–15, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006495, 2006.
Vaňková, I., Voytenko, D., Nicholls, K. W., Xie, S., Parizek, B. R.,
and Holland, D. M.: Vertical Structure of Diurnal Englacial Hydrology Cycle
at Helheim Glacier, East Greenland, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 8352–8362,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077869, 2018.
Zhou, Q., Hattermann, T., Nøst, O. A., Biuw, M., Kovacs, K. M., and
Lydersen, C.: Wind-driven spreading of fresh surface water beneath ice
shelves in the Eastern Weddell Sea, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 119, 3818–3833, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009556,
2014.
Short summary
In this study, we used a ground-penetrating radar technique to measure melting at high precision under Nivlisen, an ice shelf in central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. We found that summer-warmed ocean surface waters can increase melting close to the ice shelf front. Our study shows the use of and need for measurements in the field to monitor Antarctica's coastal margins; these detailed variations in basal melting are not captured in satellite data but are vital to predict future changes.
In this study, we used a ground-penetrating radar technique to measure melting at high precision...
