Surface melt on the Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica (2003–2021)

Saunderson, Dominic; Mackintosh, Andrew; McCormack, Felicity; Jones, Richard Selwyn; Picard, Ghislain

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022

Articles | Volume 16, issue 10

The Cryosphere, 16, 4553–4569, 2022

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022

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

The Cryosphere, 16, 4553–4569, 2022

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022

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

Articles | Volume 16, issue 10

Research article

27 Oct 2022

Research article | 27 Oct 2022

Surface melt on the Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica (2003–2021)

Dominic Saunderson et al.

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4553-2022-supplement

Data sets

Snow status (wet/dry) in Antarctica from SMMR, SSM/I, AMSR-E and AMSR2 passive microwave radiometers G. Picard https://doi.org/10.18709/perscido.2022.09.ds376

RACMO2.3p3 monthly SMB, SEB and t2m data for Antarctica (1979-2018) Christiaan van Dalum, Willem Jan van de Berg, and Michiel van den Broeke https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5512077

Model code and software

ShackletonSOM R Code used in Saunderson et al. (2022; The Cryosphere) Dominic Saunderson https://doi.org/10.26180/21132934.v1

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.