The complex basal morphology and ice dynamics of the Nansen  Ice Shelf, East Antarctica

Dow, Christine F.; Mueller, Derek; Wray, Peter; Friedrichs, Drew; Forrest, Alexander L.; McInerney, Jasmin B.; Greenbaum, Jamin; Blankenship, Donald D.; Lee, Choon Ki; Lee, Won Sang

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1105-2024

Articles | Volume 18, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1105-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1105-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 3

Research article

|

05 Mar 2024

Research article |

| 05 Mar 2024

The complex basal morphology and ice dynamics of the Nansen Ice Shelf, East Antarctica

Christine F. Dow, Derek Mueller, Peter Wray, Drew Friedrichs, Alexander L. Forrest, Jasmin B. McInerney, Jamin Greenbaum, Donald D. Blankenship, Choon Ki Lee, and Won Sang Lee

Data sets

Nansen Ice Shelf data (2016-2019) Christine F. Dow https://doi.org/10.5281/615 zenodo.4891281

The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (https://www.pgc.umn.edu/data/rema/) I. M. Howat et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-665-2019

MEaSUREs ITS_LIVE Landsat Image-Pair Glacier and Ice Sheet Surface Velocities A. S. Gardner et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/IMR9D3PEI28U

Global Land Ice Velocity Extraction from Landsat 8 (GoLIVE) T. Scambos et al. https://doi.org/10.7265/N5ZP442B

Short summary

Ice shelves are a key control on Antarctic contribution to sea level rise. We examine the Nansen Ice Shelf in East Antarctica using a combination of field-based and satellite data. We find the basal topography of the ice shelf is highly variable, only partially visible in satellite datasets. We also find that the thinnest region of the ice shelf is altered over time by ice flow rates and ocean melting. These processes can cause fractures to form that eventually result in large calving events.