Articles | Volume 19, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4027-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-19-4027-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
25 Sep 2025
Research article |
| 25 Sep 2025
| 25 Sep 2025
Totten Ice Shelf history over the past century interpreted from satellite imagery
School of GeoSciences, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK
Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Robert G. Bingham
School of GeoSciences, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK
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Bertie W. J. Miles, Jim R. Jordan, Chris R. Stokes, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, and Adrian Jenkins
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Tian Li, Geoffrey J. Dawson, Stephen J. Chuter, and Jonathan L. Bamber
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Accurate knowledge of the Antarctic grounding zone is critical for the understanding of ice sheet instability and the evaluation of mass balance. We present a new, fully automated method to map the grounding zone from ICESat-2 laser altimetry. Our results of Larsen C Ice Shelf demonstrate the efficiency, density, and high spatial accuracy with which ICESat-2 can image complex grounding zones.
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Short summary
Totten Glacier, East Antarctica's largest mass-loss source, has thinned since at least the 1990s. No sustained acceleration has occurred since 1973, but earlier grounding-line retreat suggests prior loss. A ~20-year gap in surface undulations implies a mid-20th-century warm period that may have triggered ongoing loss. Collapse of a nearby ice shelf supports this. Current ~30-year satellite records are too short to capture full decadal melt-rate variability.
Totten Glacier, East Antarctica's largest mass-loss source, has thinned since at least the...
