Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1967-2023
© Author(s) 2023. 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-17-1967-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
A model of the weathering crust and microbial activity on an ice-sheet surface
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Ian J. Hewitt
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Gabriel Cairns, Graham Benham, and Ian Hewitt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2880, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2880, 2024
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Thick layers of porous rock known as sedimentary basins lie underneath many glaciers in Antarctica that flow into the sea. These layers contain large amounts of groundwater, some of which is seawater. We use a mathematical model to predict how groundwater flows through these basins, finding that seawater can become trapped due to changes in the ice sheet over time. We also predict where water flows out of (or into) these basins, and we discuss possible implications for the glacier.
Barry Hankin, Ian Hewitt, Graham Sander, Federico Danieli, Giuseppe Formetta, Alissa Kamilova, Ann Kretzschmar, Kris Kiradjiev, Clint Wong, Sam Pegler, and Rob Lamb
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2567–2584, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2567-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2567-2020, 2020
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With growing support for nature-based solutions to reduce flooding by local communities, government authorities and international organisations, it is still important to improve how we assess risk reduction. We demonstrate an efficient, simplified 1D network model that allows us to explore the
whole-systemresponse of numerous leaky barriers placed in different stream networks, whilst considering utilisation, synchronisation effects and cascade failure, and we provide advice on their siting.
Colin R. Meyer and Ian J. Hewitt
The Cryosphere, 11, 2799–2813, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2799-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2799-2017, 2017
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We describe a new model for the evolution of snow temperature, density, and water content on the surface of glaciers and ice sheets. The model encompasses the surface hydrology of accumulation and ablation areas, allowing us to explore the transition from one to the other as thermal forcing varies. We predict year-round liquid water storage for intermediate values of the surface forcing. We also compare our model to data for the vertical percolation of meltwater in Greenland.
Ian J. Hewitt and Christian Schoof
The Cryosphere, 11, 541–551, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-541-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-541-2017, 2017
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Many glaciers contain ice both below and at the melting temperature. Predicting the evolution of temperature and water content in such ice masses is important because they exert a strong control on the flow of the ice. We present two new models to calculate these quantities, demonstrate a number of example numerical calculations, and compare the results with existing methods. The novelty of the new methods is the inclusion of gravity-driven water transport within the ice.
Related subject area
Discipline: Ice sheets | Subject: Ice Sheets
Probabilistic projections of the Amery Ice Shelf catchment, Antarctica, under conditions of high ice-shelf basal melt
Reconstructing dynamics of the Baltic Ice Stream Complex during deglaciation of the Last Scandinavian Ice Sheet
The influence of firn-layer material properties on surface crevasse propagation in glaciers and ice shelves
Assessing the potential for ice flow piracy between the Totten and Vanderford glaciers, East Antarctica
Stagnant ice and age modelling in the Dome C region, Antarctica
Polar firn properties in Greenland and Antarctica and related effects on microwave brightness temperatures
PISM-LakeCC: Implementing an adaptive proglacial lake boundary in an ice sheet model
Remapping of Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance anomalies for large ensemble sea-level change projections
Brief communication: On calculating the sea-level contribution in marine ice-sheet models
A simple stress-based cliff-calving law
Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis
A statistical fracture model for Antarctic ice shelves and glaciers
Modelled fracture and calving on the Totten Ice Shelf
Sanket Jantre, Matthew J. Hoffman, Nathan M. Urban, Trevor Hillebrand, Mauro Perego, Stephen Price, and John D. Jakeman
The Cryosphere, 18, 5207–5238, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5207-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5207-2024, 2024
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We investigate potential sea-level rise from Antarctica's Lambert Glacier, once considered stable but now at risk due to projected ocean warming by 2100. Using statistical methods and limited supercomputer simulations, we calibrated our ice-sheet model using three observables. We find that, under high greenhouse gas emissions, glacier retreat could raise sea levels by 46–133 mm by 2300. This study highlights the need for better observations to reduce uncertainty in ice-sheet model projections.
Izabela Szuman, Jakub Z. Kalita, Christiaan R. Diemont, Stephen J. Livingstone, Chris D. Clark, and Martin Margold
The Cryosphere, 18, 2407–2428, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2407-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2407-2024, 2024
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A Baltic-wide glacial landform-based map is presented, filling in a geographical gap in the record that has been speculated about by palaeoglaciologists for over a century. Here we used newly available bathymetric data and provide landform evidence of corridors of fast ice flow that we interpret as ice streams. Where previous ice-sheet-scale investigations inferred a single ice source, our mapping identifies flow and ice margin geometries from both Swedish and Bothnian sources.
Theo Clayton, Ravindra Duddu, Tim Hageman, and Emilio Martinez-Paneda
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-660, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-660, 2024
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We develop and validate new analytical solutions that quantitatively consider how the properties of ice vary along the depth of ice shelves and can be readily used in existing ice sheet models. Depth-varying firn properties are found to have a profound impact on ice sheet fracture and calving events. Our results show that grounded glaciers are less vulnerable than previously anticipated while floating ice shelves are significantly more vulnerable to fracture and calving.
Felicity S. McCormack, Jason L. Roberts, Bernd Kulessa, Alan Aitken, Christine F. Dow, Lawrence Bird, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Katharina Hochmuth, Richard S. Jones, Andrew N. Mackintosh, and Koi McArthur
The Cryosphere, 17, 4549–4569, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4549-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4549-2023, 2023
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Changes in Antarctic surface elevation can cause changes in ice and basal water flow, impacting how much ice enters the ocean. We find that ice and basal water flow could divert from the Totten to the Vanderford Glacier, East Antarctica, under only small changes in the surface elevation, with implications for estimates of ice loss from this region. Further studies are needed to determine when this could occur and if similar diversions could occur elsewhere in Antarctica due to climate change.
Ailsa Chung, Frédéric Parrenin, Daniel Steinhage, Robert Mulvaney, Carlos Martín, Marie G. P. Cavitte, David A. Lilien, Veit Helm, Drew Taylor, Prasad Gogineni, Catherine Ritz, Massimo Frezzotti, Charles O'Neill, Heinrich Miller, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 17, 3461–3483, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3461-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3461-2023, 2023
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We combined a numerical model with radar measurements in order to determine the age of ice in the Dome C region of Antarctica. Our results show that at the current ice core drilling sites on Little Dome C, the maximum age of the ice is almost 1.5 Ma. We also highlight a new potential drill site called North Patch with ice up to 2 Ma. Finally, we explore the nature of a stagnant ice layer at the base of the ice sheet which has been independently observed and modelled but is not well understood.
Haokui Xu, Brooke Medley, Leung Tsang, Joel T. Johnson, Kenneth C. Jezek, Macro Brogioni, and Lars Kaleschke
The Cryosphere, 17, 2793–2809, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2793-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2793-2023, 2023
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The density profile of polar ice sheets is a major unknown in estimating the mass loss using lidar tomography methods. In this paper, we show that combing the active radar data and passive radiometer data can provide an estimation of density properties using the new model we implemented in this paper. The new model includes the short and long timescale variations in the firn and also the refrozen layers which are not included in the previous modeling work.
Sebastian Hinck, Evan J. Gowan, Xu Zhang, and Gerrit Lohmann
The Cryosphere, 16, 941–965, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-941-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-941-2022, 2022
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Proglacial lakes were pervasive along the retreating continental ice margins after the Last Glacial Maximum. Similarly to the marine ice boundary, interactions at the ice-lake interface impact ice sheet dynamics and mass balance. Previous numerical ice sheet modeling studies did not include a dynamical lake boundary. We describe the implementation of an adaptive lake boundary condition in PISM and apply the model to the glacial retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
Heiko Goelzer, Brice P. Y. Noël, Tamsin L. Edwards, Xavier Fettweis, Jonathan M. Gregory, William H. Lipscomb, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 14, 1747–1762, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1747-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1747-2020, 2020
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Future sea-level change projections with process-based ice sheet models are typically driven with surface mass balance forcing derived from climate models. In this work we address the problems arising from a mismatch of the modelled ice sheet geometry with the one used by the climate model. The proposed remapping method reproduces the original forcing data closely when applied to the original geometry and produces a physically meaningful forcing when applied to different modelled geometries.
Heiko Goelzer, Violaine Coulon, Frank Pattyn, Bas de Boer, and Roderik van de Wal
The Cryosphere, 14, 833–840, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-833-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-833-2020, 2020
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In our ice-sheet modelling experience and from exchange with colleagues in different groups, we found that it is not always clear how to calculate the sea-level contribution from a marine ice-sheet model. This goes hand in hand with a lack of documentation and transparency in the published literature on how the sea-level contribution is estimated in different models. With this brief communication, we hope to stimulate awareness and discussion in the community to improve on this situation.
Tanja Schlemm and Anders Levermann
The Cryosphere, 13, 2475–2488, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2475-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2475-2019, 2019
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We provide a simple stress-based parameterization for cliff calving of ice sheets. According to the resulting increasing dependence of the calving rate on ice thickness, the parameterization might lead to a runaway ice loss in large parts of Greenland and Antarctica.
Anders Levermann and Johannes Feldmann
The Cryosphere, 13, 1621–1633, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1621-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1621-2019, 2019
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Using scaling analysis we propose that the currently observed marine ice-sheet instability in the Amundsen Sea sector might be faster than all other potential instabilities in Antarctica.
Veronika Emetc, Paul Tregoning, Mathieu Morlighem, Chris Borstad, and Malcolm Sambridge
The Cryosphere, 12, 3187–3213, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3187-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3187-2018, 2018
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The paper includes a model that can be used to predict zones of fracture formation in both floating and grounded ice in Antarctica. We used observations and a statistics-based model to predict fractures in most ice shelves in Antarctica as an alternative to the damage-based approach. We can predict the location of observed fractures with an average success rate of 84% for grounded ice and 61% for floating ice and mean overestimation error of 26% and 20%, respectively.
Sue Cook, Jan Åström, Thomas Zwinger, Benjamin Keith Galton-Fenzi, Jamin Stevens Greenbaum, and Richard Coleman
The Cryosphere, 12, 2401–2411, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2401-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2401-2018, 2018
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The growth of fractures on Antarctic ice shelves is important because it controls the amount of ice lost as icebergs. We use a model constructed of multiple interconnected blocks to predict the locations where fractures will form on the Totten Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. The results show that iceberg calving is controlled not only by fractures forming near the front of the ice shelf but also by fractures which formed many kilometres upstream.
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Short summary
Solar radiation causes melting at and just below the surface of the Greenland ice sheet, forming a porous surface layer known as the weathering crust. The weathering crust is home to many microbes, and the growth of these microbes is linked to the melting of the weathering crust and vice versa. We use a mathematical model to investigate what controls the size and structure of the weathering crust, the number of microbes within it, and its sensitivity to climate change.
Solar radiation causes melting at and just below the surface of the Greenland ice sheet, forming...