The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere
TC
Articles | Volume 14, issue 10
Articles | Volume 14, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3551-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3551-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 14, issue 10
Research article
 | 
27 Oct 2020
Research article |  | 27 Oct 2020

The 2020 Larsen C Ice Shelf surface melt is a 40-year record high

Suzanne Bevan, Adrian Luckman, Harry Hendon, and Guomin Wang

Data sets

Annual melt onset, duration and end dates for the Antarctic Peninsula derived from Quikscat and ASCAT scatterometer Enhanced Resolution data, 1999-2017 S. Bevan and A. Luckman https://doi.org/10.5285/E3616D28-759E-4CCA-8FAE-FE398F9552BA

Antarctic Peninsula melt season durations based on level 1 ASCAT scatterometer data, 2017-2020 S. Bevan and A. Luckman https://doi.org/10.5285/CFA4CC5D-3EA9-4C3C-8D6B-6B92A81BB2AF

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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.
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