Rapid fragmentation of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf

Benn, Douglas I.; Luckman, Adrian; Åström, Jan A.; Crawford, Anna J.; Cornford, Stephen L.; Bevan, Suzanne L.; Zwinger, Thomas; Gladstone, Rupert; Alley, Karen; Pettit, Erin; Bassis, Jeremy

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022

Articles | Volume 16, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 6

Research article

|

27 Jun 2022

Research article |

| 27 Jun 2022

Rapid fragmentation of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf

Douglas I. Benn, Adrian Luckman, Jan A. Åström, Anna J. Crawford, Stephen L. Cornford, Suzanne L. Bevan, Thomas Zwinger, Rupert Gladstone, Karen Alley, Erin Pettit, and Jeremy Bassis

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Final revised paper (published on 27 Jun 2022)
Preprint (discussion started on 20 Sep 2021)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

CC1:
'Comment on tc-2021-288', Dustin Schroeder, 29 Sep 2021

This is an exciting paper about an important ice shelf. This is just a comment to share that Figure 10 in our paper (https://www.pnas.org/content/116/38/18867) includes radar sounding images of ice shelf thinning and crevasse formation from 1979 and 2009 which may provide useful context for the observations and processes presented in your paper.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-288-CC1
- AC1: 'Reply on CC1', Adrian Luckman, 28 Jan 2022
  
  The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2021-288/tc-2021-288-AC1-supplement.pdf
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-288-AC1
RC1:
'Comment on tc-2021-288', Anonymous Referee #1, 09 Nov 2021

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2021-288/tc-2021-288-RC1-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-288-RC1
- AC2: 'Reply on RC1', Adrian Luckman, 28 Jan 2022
  
  The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2021-288/tc-2021-288-AC2-supplement.pdf
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-288-AC2
RC2:
'Comment on tc-2021-288', Stef Lhermitte, 02 Dec 2021

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2021-288/tc-2021-288-RC2-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-288-RC2
- AC3: 'Reply on RC2', Adrian Luckman, 28 Jan 2022
  
  The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2021-288/tc-2021-288-AC3-supplement.pdf
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-288-AC3

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (01 Feb 2022) by Josefin Ahlkrona

AR by Adrian Luckman on behalf of the Authors (06 Mar 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes

EF by Polina Shvedko (09 Mar 2022) Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (14 Mar 2022) by Josefin Ahlkrona

RR by Stef Lhermitte (29 Mar 2022)

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (25 Apr 2022)

ED: Publish as is (25 Apr 2022) by Josefin Ahlkrona

AR by Adrian Luckman on behalf of the Authors (13 May 2022)

Short summary

Thwaites Glacier (TG), in West Antarctica, is potentially unstable and may contribute significantly to sea-level rise as global warming continues. Using satellite data, we show that Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, the largest remaining floating extension of TG, has started to accelerate as it fragments along a shear zone. Computer modelling does not indicate that fragmentation will lead to imminent glacier collapse, but it is clear that major, rapid, and unpredictable changes are underway.