Articles | Volume 18, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2653-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2653-2024
Research article
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03 Jun 2024
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 03 Jun 2024

Coupled ice–ocean interactions during future retreat of West Antarctic ice streams in the Amundsen Sea sector

David T. Bett, Alexander T. Bradley, C. Rosie Williams, Paul R. Holland, Robert J. Arthern, and Daniel N. Goldberg

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Cited articles

Alevropoulos-Borrill, A. V., Nias, I. J., Payne, A. J., Golledge, N. R., and Bingham, R. J.: Ocean-forced evolution of the Amundsen Sea catchment, West Antarctica, by 2100, The Cryosphere, 14, 1245–1258, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1245-2020, 2020. 
Arthern, R. J. and Williams, C. R.: The sensitivity of West Antarctica to the submarine melting feedback, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 2352–2359, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072514, 2017. 
Arthern, R. J., Winebrenner, D. P., and Vaughan, D. G.: Antarctic snow accumulation mapped using polarization of 4.3-cm wavelength microwave emission, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 111, D06107, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD005667, 2006. 
Arthern, R. J., Hindmarsh, R. C. A., and Williams, C. R.: Flow speed within the Antarctic ice sheet and its controls inferred from satellite observations, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth Surf., 120, 1171–1188, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003239, 2015. 
Asay-Davis, X. S., Jourdain, N. C., and Nakayama, Y.: Developments in Simulating and Parameterizing Interactions Between the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic Ice Sheet, Current Climate Change Reports, 3, 316–329, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-017-0071-0, 2017. 
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Co-editor-in-chief
This manuscript addresses the stability of one of the most vulnerable regions of West Antarctica. Focusing on the so-called "doomsday" glacier, Thwaites glacier, the authors use a novel model that combines ice sheet and ocean to investigate how the ice melts at the pinning point - the points where the glacier is "pinned" to the bedrock.
Short summary
A new ice–ocean model simulates future ice sheet evolution in the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica. Substantial ice retreat is simulated in all scenarios, with some retreat still occurring even with no future ocean melting. The future of small "pinning points" (islands of ice that contact the seabed) is an important control on this retreat. Ocean melting is crucial in causing these features to go afloat, providing the link by which climate change may affect this sector's sea level contribution.