Articles | Volume 14, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4603-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4603-2020
Brief communication
 | Highlight paper
 | 
18 Dec 2020
Brief communication | Highlight paper |  | 18 Dec 2020

Brief communication: Heterogenous thinning and subglacial lake activity on Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica

Andrew O. Hoffman, Knut Christianson, Daniel Shapero, Benjamin E. Smith, and Ian Joughin

Related authors

Late Holocene Stabilization of Conway Ice Ridge
Andrew O. Hoffman, Paul T. Summers, Jenny Suckale, Knut Christianson, Ginny Catania, and Howard Conway
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1239,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1239, 2025
Short summary
Inland migration of near-surface crevasses in the Amundsen Sea Sector, West Antarctica
Andrew O. Hoffman, Knut Christianson, Ching-Yao Lai, Ian Joughin, Nicholas Holschuh, Elizabeth Case, Jonathan Kingslake, and the GHOST science team
The Cryosphere, 19, 1353–1372, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1353-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1353-2025, 2025
Short summary
Amundsen Sea Embayment accumulation variability measured with global navigation satellite system interferometric reflectometry
Andrew O. Hoffman, Michelle L. Maclennan, Jan Lenaerts, Kristine M. Larson, and Knut Christianson
The Cryosphere, 19, 713–730, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-713-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-713-2025, 2025
Short summary
Climatology and surface impacts of atmospheric rivers on West Antarctica
Michelle L. Maclennan, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Christine A. Shields, Andrew O. Hoffman, Nander Wever, Megan Thompson-Munson, Andrew C. Winters, Erin C. Pettit, Theodore A. Scambos, and Jonathan D. Wille
The Cryosphere, 17, 865–881, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-865-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-865-2023, 2023
Short summary
icepack: a new glacier flow modeling package in Python, version 1.0
Daniel R. Shapero, Jessica A. Badgeley, Andrew O. Hoffman, and Ian R. Joughin
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 4593–4616, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4593-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4593-2021, 2021
Short summary

Cited articles

Carter, S., Blankenship, D., Peters, M., Young, D., Holt, J., and Morse, D.: Radar-based subglacial lake classification in Antarctica, Geochem. Geophy. Geosy., 8, 3, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GC001408, 2007. 
Chen, G.: GPS kinematics positioning for airborne laser altimetry at Long Valley, PhD thesis, Mass. Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, 1998. 
Fricker, H. A., Scambos, T., Bindshadler, R., and Padman, L.: An Active Subglacial Water System in West Antarctica Mapped from Space, Science, 315, 1544–1548, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1136897, 2007. 
Friedl, P., Weiser, F., Fluhrer, A., and Braun, M. H.: Remote sensing of glacier and ice sheet grounding lines: A review, Earth-Sci. Rev., 201, 102948, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102948, 2020. 
Download
Short summary
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet has long been considered geometrically prone to collapse, and Thwaites Glacier, the largest glacier in the Amundsen Sea, is likely in the early stages of disintegration. Using observations of Thwaites Glacier velocity and elevation change, we show that the transport of ~2 km3 of water beneath Thwaites Glacier has only a small and transient effect on glacier speed relative to ongoing thinning driven by ocean melt.
Share