Satellite data reveal details of glacial isostatic adjustment in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica

O. Willen, Matthias; Wouters, Bert; Broerse, Taco; Buchta, Eric; Helm, Veit

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2213-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2213-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2213-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 6

Research article

|

25 Jun 2025

Research article |

| 25 Jun 2025

Satellite data reveal details of glacial isostatic adjustment in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica

Matthias O. Willen, Bert Wouters, Taco Broerse, Eric Buchta, and Veit Helm

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2213-2025-supplement

Data sets

ITSG-Grace2018 - monthly, daily and static gravity field solutions from GRACE T. Mayer-Gürr et al. https://doi.org/10.5880/ICGEM.2018.003

L1b LRM Precise Orbit, Baseline E. European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.5270/CR2-41ad749

L1b SARin Precise Orbit. Baseline E European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.5270/CR2-6afef01

Data set: Monthly averaged RACMO2.3p2 variables (1979-2022); Antarctica J. M. van Wessem et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7760490

Glacial isostatic adjustment from satellite data in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica M. Willen et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15115164

Short summary

Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Amundsen Sea Embayment is likely in the near future. Vertical uplift of bedrock due to glacial isostatic adjustment stabilizes the ice sheet and may delay its collapse. So far, only spatially and temporally sparse GPS measurements have been able to observe this bedrock motion. We have combined satellite data and quantified a region-wide bedrock motion that independently matches GPS measurements. This can improve ice sheet predictions.