Sensitivity of Totten Glacier dynamics to sliding parameterizations and ice shelf basal melt rates

Ma, Yiliang; Zhao, Liyun; Gladstone, Rupert; Zwinger, Thomas; Wolovick, Michael; Wang, Junshun; Moore, John C.

doi:10.5194/tc-19-6187-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6187-2025

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6187-2025

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

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

Research article

|

25 Nov 2025

Research article |

| 25 Nov 2025

Sensitivity of Totten Glacier dynamics to sliding parameterizations and ice shelf basal melt rates

Yiliang Ma, Liyun Zhao, Rupert Gladstone, Thomas Zwinger, Michael Wolovick, Junshun Wang, and John C. Moore

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6187-2025-supplement

Data sets

MEaSUREs Antarctic Boundaries for IPY 2007-2009 from Satellite Radar J. Mouginot et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/AXE4121732AD

MEaSUREs BedMachine Antarctica. (NSIDC-0756, Version 2) M. Morlighem https://doi.org/10.5067/E1QL9HFQ7A8M

MEaSUREs InSAR-Based Antarctica Ice Velocity Map E. Rignot et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/D7GK8F5J8M8R

ElmerCSC/elmerfem: Elmer 9.0 (release-9.0) Juha Ruokolainen et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7892181

ISMIP6 21st Century Forcing Datasets S. Nowicki et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11176009

Short summary

Totten Glacier in Antarctica holds a sea level potential of 3.85 m. Basal sliding and sub-shelf melt rate have an important impact on ice sheet dynamics. We simulate the evolution of Totten Glacier using an ice flow model with different basal sliding parameterizations and sub-shelf melt rates to quantify their effect on the projections. We found that the modelled glacier retreat and mass loss are sensitive to the choice of basal sliding parameterizations and maximal sub-shelf melt rate.