Articles | Volume 19, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-955-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-955-2025
Research article
 | 
03 Mar 2025
Research article |  | 03 Mar 2025

Assessing the sensitivity of the Vanderford Glacier, East Antarctica, to basal melt and calving

Lawrence A. Bird, Felicity S. McCormack, Johanna Beckmann, Richard S. Jones, and Andrew N. Mackintosh

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Cited articles

Barnes, J. M. and Gudmundsson, G. H.: The predictive power of ice sheet models and the regional sensitivity of ice loss to basal sliding parameterisations: a case study of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, West Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 16, 4291–4304, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4291-2022, 2022. a, b, c
Bird, L.: Supporting Data - Assessing the sensitivity of the Vanderford Glacier, East Antarctica, to basal melt and calving, Monash University [data set], https://doi.org/10.26180/26170102, 2024. a
Bondzio, J. H., Seroussi, H., Morlighem, M., Kleiner, T., Rückamp, M., Humbert, A., and Larour, E. Y.: Modelling calving front dynamics using a level-set method: application to Jakobshavn Isbræ, West Greenland, The Cryosphere, 10, 497–510, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-497-2016, 2016. a
Brondex, J., Gagliardini, O., Gillet-Chaulet, F., and Durand, G.: Sensitivity of Grounding Line Dynamics to the Choice of the Friction Law, J. Glaciol., 63, 854–866, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.51, 2017. a, b, c, d, e, f
Brondex, J., Gillet-Chaulet, F., and Gagliardini, O.: Sensitivity of centennial mass loss projections of the Amundsen basin to the friction law, The Cryosphere, 13, 177–195, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-177-2019, 2019. a, b, c, d
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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.
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