Articles | Volume 19, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-955-2025
© 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-19-955-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
03 Mar 2025
Research article |
| 03 Mar 2025
| 03 Mar 2025
Assessing the sensitivity of the Vanderford Glacier, East Antarctica, to basal melt and calving
Lawrence A. Bird
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Kulin Nations, Victoria, Australia
Felicity S. McCormack
Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Kulin Nations, Victoria, Australia
Johanna Beckmann
Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Kulin Nations, Victoria, Australia
Richard S. Jones
Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Kulin Nations, Victoria, Australia
Andrew N. Mackintosh
Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Kulin Nations, Victoria, Australia
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Rachel K. Smedley, David Small, Richard S. Jones, Stephen Brough, Jennifer Bradley, and Geraint T. H. Jenkins
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Martim Mas e Braga, Richard Selwyn Jones, Jennifer C. H. Newall, Irina Rogozhina, Jane L. Andersen, Nathaniel A. Lifton, and Arjen P. Stroeven
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Mountains higher than the ice surface are sampled to know when the ice reached the sampled elevation, which can be used to guide numerical models. This is important to understand how much ice will be lost by ice sheets in the future. We use a simple model to understand how ice flow around mountains affects the ice surface topography and show how much this influences results from field samples. We also show that models need a finer resolution over mountainous areas to better match field samples.
Lisa Craw, Adam Treverrow, Sheng Fan, Mark Peternell, Sue Cook, Felicity McCormack, and Jason Roberts
The Cryosphere, 15, 2235–2250, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2235-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2235-2021, 2021
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Ice sheet and ice shelf models rely on data from experiments to accurately represent the way ice moves. Performing experiments at the temperatures and stresses that are generally present in nature takes a long time, and so there are few of these datasets. Here, we test the method of speeding up an experiment by running it initially at a higher temperature, before dropping to a lower target temperature to generate the relevant data. We show that this method can reduce experiment time by 55 %.
Syed Abdul Salam, Jason L. Roberts, Felicity S. McCormack, Richard Coleman, and Jacqueline A. Halpin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2020-146, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2020-146, 2020
Publication in ESSD not foreseen
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Accurate estimates of englacial temperature and geothermal heat flux are incredibly important
for constraining model simulations of ice dynamics (e.g. viscosity is temperature-dependent) and sliding. However, we currently have few direct measurements of vertical temperature (i.e. only at boreholes/ice domes) and geothermal heat flux in Antarctica. This method derives attenuation rates, that can then be mapped directly to englacial temperatures and geothermal heat flux.
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Short summary
Vanderford Glacier is the fastest-retreating glacier in East Antarctica and may have important implications for future ice loss from the Aurora Subglacial Basin. Our ice sheet model simulations suggest that grounding line retreat is driven by sub-ice-shelf basal melting, in which warm ocean waters melt ice close to the grounding line. We show that current estimates of basal melt are likely too low, highlighting the need for improved estimates and direct measurements of basal melt in the region.
Vanderford Glacier is the fastest-retreating glacier in East Antarctica and may have important...
