Articles | Volume 20, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-245-2026
© Author(s) 2026. 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-20-245-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Jan 2026
Research article |
| 15 Jan 2026
| 15 Jan 2026
Ephemeral grounding on the Pine Island Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, from 2014–2023
Yite Chien
Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Key Laboratory of Polar Environment Monitoring and Public Governance (Wuhan University), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China
School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Chunxia Zhou
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Key Laboratory of Polar Environment Monitoring and Public Governance (Wuhan University), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China
School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Sainan Sun
Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK
Yiming Chen
Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Key Laboratory of Polar Environment Monitoring and Public Governance (Wuhan University), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China
School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Tao Wang
Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Key Laboratory of Polar Environment Monitoring and Public Governance (Wuhan University), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China
School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Baojun Zhang
Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Key Laboratory of Polar Environment Monitoring and Public Governance (Wuhan University), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China
School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Related authors
No articles found.
Johanna Beckmann, Ronja Reese, Felicity S. McCormack, Sue Cook, Lawrence Bird, Dawid Gwyther, Daniel Richards, Matthias Scheiter, Yu Wang, Hélène Seroussi, Ayako Abe‐Ouchi, Torsten Albrecht, Jorge Alvarez‐Solas, Xylar S. Asay‐Davis, Jean‐Baptiste Barre, Constantijn J. Berends, Jorge Bernales, Javier Blasco, Justine Caillet, David M. Chandler, Violaine Coulon, Richard Cullather, Christophe Dumas, Benjamin K. Galton‐Fenzi, Julius Garbe, Fabien Gillet‐Chaulet, Rupert Gladstone, Heiko Goelzer, Nicholas R. Golledge, Ralf Greve, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Holly Kyeore Han, Trevor R. Hillebrand, Matthew J. Hoffman, Philippe Huybrechts, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Ann Kristin Klose, Petra M. Langebroek, Gunter R. Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, Daniel P. Lowry, Pierre Mathiot, Marisa Montoya, Mathieu Morlighem, Sophie Nowicki, Frank Pattyn, Antony J. Payne, Tyler Pelle, Aurélien Quiquet, Alexander Robinson, Leopekka Saraste, Erika G. Simon, Sainan Sun, Jake P. Twarog, Luke D. Trusel, Benoit Urruty, Jonas Van Breedam, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Chen Zhao, and Thomas Zwinger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4069, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4069, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
Short summary
Short summary
Antarctica holds enough ice to raise sea levels by many meters, but its future is uncertain. Warm ocean water melts ice shelves from below, letting inland ice flow faster into the sea. By 2300, Antarctica could add 0.6–4.4 m to sea levels. Our study identifies two key factors—how strongly shelves melt and how the ice responds. These explain much of the range, and refining them in models may improve future predictions.
Jowan M. Barnes, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Daniel N. Goldberg, and Sainan Sun
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-328, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-328, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Calving is where ice breaks off the front of glaciers. It has not been included widely in modelling as it is difficult to represent. We use our ice flow model to investigate the effects of calving floating ice shelves in West Antarctica. More calving leads to more ice loss and greater sea level rise, with local differences due to the shape of the bedrock. We find that ocean forcing and calving should be considered equally when trying to improve how models represent the real world.
Richard Parsons, Sainan Sun, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Jan Wuite, and Thomas Nagler
The Cryosphere, 18, 5789–5801, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5789-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5789-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In 2022, multi-year landfast sea ice in Antarctica's Larsen B embayment disintegrated, after which time an increase in the rate at which Crane Glacier discharged ice into the ocean was observed. As the fast ice was joined to the glacier terminus, it could provide resistance against the glacier's flow, slowing down the rate of ice discharge. We used numerical modelling to quantify this resistive stress and found that the fast ice provided significant support to Crane prior to its disintegration.
Cristina Gerli, Sebastian Rosier, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, and Sainan Sun
The Cryosphere, 18, 2677–2689, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2677-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2677-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Recent efforts have focused on using AI and satellite imagery to track crevasses for assessing ice shelf damage and informing ice flow models. Our study reveals a weak connection between these observed products and damage maps inferred from ice flow models. While there is some improvement in crevasse-dense regions, this association remains limited. Directly mapping ice damage from satellite observations may not significantly improve the representation of these processes within ice flow models.
Sarah Wauthy, Jean-Louis Tison, Mana Inoue, Saïda El Amri, Sainan Sun, François Fripiat, Philippe Claeys, and Frank Pattyn
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 35–58, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-35-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-35-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The datasets presented are the density, water isotopes, ions, and conductivity measurements, as well as age models and surface mass balance (SMB) from the top 120 m of two ice cores drilled on adjacent ice rises in Dronning Maud Land, dating from the late 18th century. They offer many development possibilities for the interpretation of paleo-profiles and for addressing the mechanisms behind the spatial and temporal variability of SMB and proxies observed at the regional scale in East Antarctica.
Hélène Seroussi, Vincent Verjans, Sophie Nowicki, Antony J. Payne, Heiko Goelzer, William H. Lipscomb, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Cécile Agosta, Torsten Albrecht, Xylar Asay-Davis, Alice Barthel, Reinhard Calov, Richard Cullather, Christophe Dumas, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Rupert Gladstone, Nicholas R. Golledge, Jonathan M. Gregory, Ralf Greve, Tore Hattermann, Matthew J. Hoffman, Angelika Humbert, Philippe Huybrechts, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Thomas Kleiner, Eric Larour, Gunter R. Leguy, Daniel P. Lowry, Chistopher M. Little, Mathieu Morlighem, Frank Pattyn, Tyler Pelle, Stephen F. Price, Aurélien Quiquet, Ronja Reese, Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel, Andrew Shepherd, Erika Simon, Robin S. Smith, Fiammetta Straneo, Sainan Sun, Luke D. Trusel, Jonas Van Breedam, Peter Van Katwyk, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Ricarda Winkelmann, Chen Zhao, Tong Zhang, and Thomas Zwinger
The Cryosphere, 17, 5197–5217, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5197-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5197-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Mass loss from Antarctica is a key contributor to sea level rise over the 21st century, and the associated uncertainty dominates sea level projections. We highlight here the Antarctic glaciers showing the largest changes and quantify the main sources of uncertainty in their future evolution using an ensemble of ice flow models. We show that on top of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, Totten and Moscow University glaciers show rapid changes and a strong sensitivity to warmer ocean conditions.
Elise Kazmierczak, Sainan Sun, Violaine Coulon, and Frank Pattyn
The Cryosphere, 16, 4537–4552, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4537-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4537-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The water at the interface between ice sheets and underlying bedrock leads to lubrication between the ice and the bed. Due to a lack of direct observations, subglacial conditions beneath the Antarctic ice sheet are poorly understood. Here, we compare different approaches in which the subglacial water could influence sliding on the underlying bedrock and suggest that it modulates the Antarctic ice sheet response and increases uncertainties, especially in the context of global warming.
Baojun Zhang, Zemin Wang, Jiachun An, Tingting Liu, and Hong Geng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 973–989, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-973-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-973-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A long-term time series of ice sheet surface elevation change essential for assessing climate change. This study presents a 30-year monthly 5 km gridded surface elevation time series for the Greenland Ice Sheet from multiple satellite radar altimeters. The dataset can provide detailed insight into Greenland Ice Sheet surface elevation change on multiple temporal and spatial scales, thereby providing an opportunity to explore potential associations between ice sheet change and climatic forcing.
Cited articles
Andersen, O., Knudsen, P., and Stenseng, L.: The DTU13 MSS (Mean Sea Surface) and MDT (Mean Dynamic Topography) from 20 Years of Satellite Altimetry, in: IGFS 2014, edited by: Jin, S. and Barzaghi, R., 111–121, Springer International Publishing, Cham, https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2015_182, 2015.
Arndt, J. E., Larter, R. D., Friedl, P., Gohl, K., Höppner, K., and the Science Team of Expedition PS104: Bathymetric controls on calving processes at Pine Island Glacier, The Cryosphere, 12, 2039–2050, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2039-2018, 2018.
Bamber, J. L., Westaway, R. M., Marzeion, B., and Wouters, B.: The land ice contribution to sea level during the satellite era, Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 063008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac2f0, 2018.
Benn, D. I., Luckman, A., Åström, J. A., Crawford, A. J., Cornford, S. L., Bevan, S. L., Zwinger, T., Gladstone, R., Alley, K., Pettit, E., and Bassis, J.: Rapid fragmentation of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, The Cryosphere, 16, 2545–2564, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022, 2022.
Bindschadler, R., Choi, H., Wichlacz, A., Bingham, R., Bohlander, J., Brunt, K., Corr, H., Drews, R., Fricker, H., Hall, M., Hindmarsh, R., Kohler, J., Padman, L., Rack, W., Rotschky, G., Urbini, S., Vornberger, P., and Young, N.: Getting around Antarctica: new high-resolution mappings of the grounded and freely-floating boundaries of the Antarctic ice sheet created for the International Polar Year, The Cryosphere, 5, 569–588, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-569-2011, 2011.
Chen, Y., Zhou, C., Ai, S., Liang, Q., Zheng, L., Liu, R., and Lei, H.: Dynamics of Dålk glacier in east Antarctica derived from multisource satellite observations since 2000, Remote Sens., 12, 1809, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111809, 2020.
Chien, Y.: Dataset for the paper “Ephemeral grounding on the Pine Island Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, from 2014 to 2023”, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17937377, 2025a.
Chien, Y.: Double-differential vertical displacement changes from November 2014 to November 2023 at the Pine Island Ice Shelf, Zenodo [video supplement], https://zenodo.org/records/14843806, 2025b.
Christianson, K., Bushuk, M., Dutrieux, P., Parizek, B. R., Joughin, I. R., Alley, R. B., Shean, D. E., Abrahamsen, E. P., Anandakrishnan, S., Heywood, K. J., Kim, T. W., Lee, S. H., Nicholls, K., Stanton, T., Truffer, M., Webber, B. G. M., Jenkins, A., Jacobs, S., Bindschadler, R., and Holland, D. M.: Sensitivity of Pine Island Glacier to observed ocean forcing, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 10817–10825, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070500, 2016.
Corr, H. F. J., Doake, C. S. M., Jenkins, A., and Vaughan, D. G.: Investigations of an “ice plain” in the mouth of Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica, J. Glaciol., 47, 51–57, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756501781832395, 2001.
Davies, D., Bingham, R. G., Graham, A. G. C., Spagnolo, M., Dutrieux, P., Vaughan, D. G., Jenkins, A., and Nitsche, F. O.: High-resolution subb-ice-shelf seafloor records of twentieth century ungrounding and retreat of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 122, 1698–1714, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JF004311, 2017.
Depoorter, M., Bamber, J., Griggs, J., Lenaerts, J. T. M., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., van den Broeke, M. R., and Moholdt, G.: Calving fluxes and basal melt rates of Antarctic ice shelves, Nature, 502, 89–92, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12567, 2013.
Dutrieux, P., Rydt, J. D., Jenkins, A., Holland, P. R., Ha, H. K., Lee, S. H., Steig, E. J., Ding, Q., Abrahamsen, E. P., and Schröder M.: Strong sensitivity of pine island ice-shelf melting to climatic variability, Science, 343, 174–178, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1244341, 2014.
Fricker, H. A. and Padman, L.: Ice shelf grounding zone structure from ICESat laser altimetry, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L15502, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL026907, 2006.
Fricker, H. A., Galton-Fenzi, B. K., Walker, C. C., Freer, B. I. D., Padman, L., and DeConto, R.: Antarctica in 2025: Drivers of deep uncertainty in projected ice loss, Science, 387, 601–609, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adt9619, 2025.
Friedl, P., Weiser, F., Fluhrer, A., and Braun, M. H.: Remote sensing of glacier and ice sheet grounding lines: A review, Earth-Sci. Rev., 201, 102948, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102948, 2020.
Fürst, J., Durand, G., Gillet-Chaulet, F., Tavard, L., Rankl, M., Braun, M., and Gagliardini, O.: The safety band of Antarctic ice shelves, Nat. Clim. Change, 6, 479–482, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2912, 2016.
Graham, A. G. C., Dutrieux, P., Vaughan, D. G., Nitsche, F. O., Gyllencreutz, R., Greenwood, S. L., Larter, R. D., and Jenkins, A.: Seabed corrugations beneath an Antarctic ice shelf revealed by autonomous underwater vehicle survey: Origin and implications for the history of Pine Island Glacier, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 118, 1356–1366, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrf.20087, 2013.
Greene, C. A., Gwyther, D. E., and Blankenship, D. D.: Antarctic mapping tools for MATLAB, Comput. Geosci., 104, 151–157, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2016.08.003, 2017.
Greene, C. A.: Antarctic Mapping Tools, Version 6, [Software], GitHub, https://github.com/chadagreene/Antarctic-Mapping-Tools (last access: 19 December 2026), 2021.
Greene, C. A., Erofeeva, S., Padman, L., Howard, S., Sutterley, T., and Egbert, G.: The Tide Model Driver for MATLAB, Version 3.0, [Software], https://github.com/chadagreene/Tide-Model-Driver (last access: 19 December 2026), 2023.
Griggs, J. A. and Bamber, J. L.: Antarctic ice-shelf thickness from satellite radar altimetry, J. Glaciol., 57, 485–498, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214311796905659, 2011.
Gudmundsson, G. H., Paolo, F. S., and Adusumilli, S., Fricker, H. A.: Instantaneous Antarctic ice sheet mass loss driven by thinning ice shelves, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 13903–13909, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085027, 2019.
Hillenbrand, C. D., Smith, J. A., Hodell, D. A., Greaves, M., Poole, C. R., Kender, S., Williams, M., Andersen, T. J., Jernas, P. E., Elderfield, H., Klages, J. P., Roberts, S. J., Gohl, K., Larter, R. D., and Kuhn, G.: West Antarctic ice sheet retreat driven by Holocene warm water incursions, Nature, 547, 43–48, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22995, 2017.
Hogg, A. E.: Locating Ice Sheet Grounding Lines Using Satellite Radar Interferometry and Altimetry, PhD Thesis, University of Leeds, 152 pp., https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11356/, 2015.
Howard, S. L., Greene, C. A., Padman, L., Erofeeva, S., and Sutterley, T.: CATS2008_v2023 Circum-Antarctic Tidal Simulation 2008, Version 2023, [data set], U. S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center, https://doi.org/10.15784/601772, 2024.
Howat, I., Porter, C., Noh, M., Husby, E., Khuvis, S., Danish, E., Tomko, K., Gardiner, J., Negrete, A., Yadav, B., Klassen, J., Kelleher, C., Cloutier, M., Bakker, J., Enos, J., Arnold, G., Bauer, G., and Morin, P.: The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica – Strips, Version 4.1, [data set], Harvard Dataverse, https://data.pgc.umn.edu/elev/dem/setsm/REMA/strips/s2s041/2m/s76w101/ (last access: 19 December 2026), 2022a.
Howat, I., Porter, C., Noh, M., Husby, E., Khuvis, S., Danish, E., Tomko, K., Gardiner, J., Negrete, A., Yadav, B., Klassen, J., Kelleher, C., Cloutier, M., Bakker, J., Enos, J., Arnold, G., Bauer, G., and Morin, P.: The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica – Mosaics, Version 1.1, [data set], Harvard Dataverse, https://data.pgc.umn.edu/elev/dem/setsm/REMA/mosaic/v1.1/200m/ (last access: 19 December 2026), 2022b.
Howat, I. M., Porter, C., Smith, B. E., Noh, M.-J., and Morin, P.: The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 13, 665–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-665-2019, 2019.
Jacobs, S. S., Jenkins, A., Giulivi, C. F., and Dutrieux, P.: Stronger ocean circulation and increased melting under pine island glacier ice shelf, Nat. Geosci., 4, 519–523, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1188, 2011.
Jenkins, A., Dutrieux, P., Jacobs, S. S., McPhail, S. D., Perrett, J. R., Webb, A. T., and David, W.: Observations beneath pine island glacier in west Antarctica and implications for its retreat, Nat. Geosci., 3, 468–472, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo890, 2010.
Jeong, S., Howat, I. M., and Bassis, J. N.: Accelerated ice shelf rifting and retreat at pine island glacier, west Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 11720–11725, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071360, 2016.
Joughin, I., Smith, B. E., and Abdalati, W.: Glaciological advances made with interferometric synthetic aperture radar, J. Glaciol., 56, 1026–1042, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214311796406158, 2010.
Joughin, I., Shean, D. E., Smith, B. E., and Dutrieux, P.: Grounding line variability and subglacial lake drainage on pine island glacier, Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 9093–9102, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070259, 2016.
Joughin, I., Shapero, D., Smith, B., Dutrieux, P., and Barham, M.: Ice-shelf retreat drives recent pine island glacier speedup, Sci. Adv., 7, eabg3080, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg3080, 2021.
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W.,Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., Reynolds, R., Jenne, R., and Joseph, D.: The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 77, 437–472, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2, 1996.
Knudsen, P., Andersen, O., and Maximenko, N.: Mean dynamic topography dtumdt15, DTU [data set], https://ftp.space.dtu.dk/pub/DTU15/2_MIN/ (last access: 19 December 2025), 2017.
Lhermitte, S., Sun, S., Shuman, C., Wouters, B., Pattyn, F., Wuite, J., Berthierf, E., and Nagler, T.: Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 117, 24735–24741, 2020.
Lowery, K., Dutrieux, P., Holland, P. R., Hogg, A. E., Gourmelen, N., and Wallis, B. J.: Spatio-temporal melt and basal channel evolution on Pine Island Glacier ice shelf from CryoSat-2, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-267, 2025.
Marsh, O. J., Rack, W., Floricioiu, D., Golledge, N. R., and Lawson, W.: Tidally induced velocity variations of the Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica, and their representation in satellite measurements of ice velocity, The Cryosphere, 7, 1375–1384, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1375-2013, 2013.
Matsuoka, K., Hindmarsh, R., Moholdt, G., Bentley, M., Pritchard, H., Brown, J., Conway, H., Drews, R., Durand, G., Goldberg, D., T., Hattermann, Kingslake, J., Lenaerts, J. T. M., Martín, C., Mulvaney, R., Nicholls, K. W., Pattyn, F., Ross, N., Scambos, T., and Whitehouse, P. L.: Antarctic ice rises and rumples: Their properties and significance for ice-sheet dynamics and evolution, Earth-Sci. Rev., 150, 724–745, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.09.004, 2015.
Medley, B., Neumann, T. A., Zwally, H. J., Smith, B. E., and Stevens, C. M.: Simulations of firn processes over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets: 1980–2021, The Cryosphere, 16, 3971–4011, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3971-2022, 2022a.
Medley, B., Neumann, T. A., Zwally, H. J., Smith, B. E., and Stevens, C. M.: NASA GSFC Firn Densification Model version 1.2.1 (GSFC-FDMv1.2.1) for the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets: 1980–2022, Version 1.2.1, [data set], Zenodo, https://zenodo.org/records/7221954, 2022b.
Meloni, M., Bouffard, J., Parrinello, T., Dawson, G., Garnier, F., Helm, V., Di Bella, A., Hendricks, S., Ricker, R., Webb, E., Wright, B., Nielsen, K., Lee, S., Passaro, M., Scagliola, M., Simonsen, S. B., Sandberg Sørensen, L., Brockley, D., Baker, S., Fleury, S., Bamber, J., Maestri, L., Skourup, H., Forsberg, R., and Mizzi, L.: CryoSat Ice Baseline-D validation and evolutions, The Cryosphere, 14, 1889–1907, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1889-2020, 2020.
Miles, B. W. J. and Bingham, R. G.: Progressive unanchoring of Antarctic ice shelves since 1973, Nature, 626, 785–791, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07049-0, 2024.
Milillo, P., Rignot, E., Mouginot, J., Scheuchl, B., Morlighem, M., Li, X., and Salzer, J. T.: On the short-term grounding zone dynamics of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, observed with COSMO-SkyMed interferometric data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 10436, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074811, 2017.
Minchew, B. M., Simons, M., Riel, B., and Milillo, P.: Tidally induced variations in vertical and horizontal motion on Rutford ice stream, west Antarctica, inferred from remotely sensed observations, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 122, 167–190, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003971, 2017.
Morlighem, M., Rignot, E., Binder, T., Blankenship, D., Drews, R., Eagles, G., Eisen, O., Ferraccioli, F., Forsberg, R., Fretwell, P., Goel, V., Greenbaum, J. S., Gudmundsson, H., Guo, J., Helm, V., Hofstede, C., Howat, I., Humbert, A., Jokat, W., Karlsson, N. B., Lee, W. S., Matsuoka, K., Millan, R., Mouginot, J., Paden, J., Pattyn, F., Roberts, J., Rosier, S., Ruppel, A., Seroussi, H., Smith, E. C., Steinhage, D., Sun, B., van den Broeke, M. R., van Ommen, T. D., van Wessem, M., and Young, D. A.: Deep glacial troughs and stabilizing ridges unveiled beneath the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet, Nat. Geosci., 13, 132–137, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0510-8, 2020.
Morlighem, M.: MEaSUREs BedMachine Antarctica, Version 3, [data set], NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0756/versions/3 (last access: 19 December 2026), 2022.
Mouginot, J., Rignot, E., and Scheuchl, B.: Sustained increase in ice discharge from the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, from 1973 to 2013, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 1576–1584, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL059069, 2014.
Otsu, N.: A threshold selection method from gray-level histograms, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 9, 62–66, https://doi.org/10.1109/TSMC.1979.4310076, 1979.
Paolo, F. S., Fricker, H. A., and Padman, L.: Volume loss from Antarctic ice shelves is accelerating, Science, 348, 327–331, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa0940, 2015.
Pavlis, N. K., Holmes, S. A., Kenyon, S. C., and Factor, J. K.: The development and evaluation of the Earth Gravitational Model 2008, J. Geophys. Res., 117, B04406, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JB008916, 2012.
Pritchard, H. D., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Fricker, H. A., Vaughan, D. G., van den Broeke, M. R., and Padman, L.: Antarctic ice-sheet loss driven by basal melting of ice shelves, Nature, 484, 502–505, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10968, 2012.
Qi, M., Liu, Y., Liu, J., Cheng, X., Lin, Y., Feng, Q., Shen, Q., and Yu, Z.: A 15-year circum-Antarctic iceberg calving dataset derived from continuous satellite observations, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4583–4601, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4583-2021, 2021.
Rignot, E.: Fast Recession of a West Antarctic Glacier, Science, 281, 549–551, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5376.549, 1998.
Rignot, E.: Ice-shelf changes in pine island bay, Antarctica, 1947–2000, J. Glaciol., 48, 247–256, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756502781831386, 2002.
Rignot, E., Mouginot, J., Morlighem, M., Seroussi, H., and Scheuchl, B.: Widespread, rapid grounding line retreat of Pine Island, Thwaites, Smith, and Kohler Glaciers, West Antarctica, from 1992 to 2011, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 3502–3509, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL060140, 2014.
Rignot, E., Mouginot, J., and Scheuchl, B.: Measures Antarctic grounding line from differential satellite radar interferometry, Version 2, [data set], NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, https://nsidc.org/data/NSIDC-0498/versions/2 (last access: 19 December 2026), 2016.
Rignot, E., Mouginot, J., Scheuchl, B., Van Den Broeke, M., Van Wessem, M. J., and Morlighem, M.: Four decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance from 1979–2017, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116, 1095–1103, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812883116, 2019.
Sánchez-Gámez, P. and Navarro, F. J.: Glacier surface velocity retrieval using D-InSAR and offset tracking techniques applied to ascending and descending passes of sentinel-1 data for southern Ellesmere ice caps, Canadian Arctic, Remote Sens., 9, 442, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9050442, 2017.
Scambos, T., Wallin, B., and Bohlander, J.: Images of Antarctic Ice Shelves, Version 2, [data set], NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0102/versions/2 (last access: 19 December 2026), 2022.
Schmeltz, M., Rignot, E., and MacAyeal, D. R.: Ephemeral grounding as a signal of ice-shelf change, J. Glaciol., 47, 71–77, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756501781832502, 2001.
Shean, D. E.: Quantifying ice-shelf basal melt and ice-stream dynamics using high-resolution DEM and GPS time series, PhD Thesis, University of Washington, http://hdl.handle.net/1773/36365 (last access: 19 December 2026), 2016.
Shean, D. E., Joughin, I. R., Dutrieux, P., Smith, B. E., and Berthier, E.: Ice shelf basal melt rates from a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) record for Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 13, 2633–2656, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2633-2019, 2019.
Shepherd, A., Ivins, E. R., Geruo, A., Barletta, V. R., Bentley, M. J., Bettadpur, S., Briggs, K. H., Bromwich, D. H., Forsberg, R., Galin, N., Horwath, M., Jacobs, S., Joughin, I., King, M. A., Lenaerts, J. T. M., Li, J., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Luckman, A., Luthcke, S. B., McMillan, M., Meister, R., Milne, G., Mouginot, J., Muir, A., Nicolas, J. P., Paden, J., Payne, A. J., Pritchard, H., Rignot, E., Rott, H., Sørensen, L. S., Scambos, T. A., Scheuchl, B., Schrama, E. J. O., Smith, B., Sundal, A. V., Van Angelen, J. H., Van De Berg, W. J., Van Den Broeke, M. R., Vaughan, D. G., Velicogna, I., Wahr, J., Whitehouse, P. L., Wingham, D. J., Yi, D., Young, D., and Zwally, H. J.: A reconciled estimate of ice-sheet mass balance, Science, 338, 1183–1189, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1228102, 2012.
Shepherd, A., Fricker, H. A., and Farrell, S. L.: Trends and connections across the Antarctic cryosphere, Nature, 558, 223–232, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0171-6, 2018.
Smith, J. A., Andersen, T. J., Shortt, M., Gaffney, A. M., Truffer, M., Stanton, T. P., Bindschadler, R., Dutrieux, P., Jenkins, A., Hillenbrand, C.-D., Ehrmann, W., Corr, H. F. J., Farley, N., Crowhurst, S., and Vaughan, D. G.: Subb-ice-shelf sediments record history of twentieth-century retreat of pine island glacier, Nature, 541, 77–80, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20136, 2017.
Smith, B., Fricker, H. A., Holschuh, N., Gardner, A. S., Adusumilli, S., Brunt, K. M., Csatho, B., Harbeck, K., Huth, A., Neumann, T., Nilsson, J., and Siegfried, M. R.: Land ice height-retrieval algorithm for NASA's ICESat-2 photon-counting laser altimeter, Remote Sens. Environ., 233, 111352, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111352, 2019.
Smith, B., Fricker, H. A., Gardner, A. S., Medley, B., Nilsson, J., Paolo, F. S., Holschuh, N., Adusumilli, S., Brunt, K., Csatho, B., Harbeck, K., Markus, T., Neumann, T., Siegfried, M. R., and Zwally, H. J.: Pervasive ice sheet mass loss reflects competing ocean and atmosphere processes, Science, 368, 1239–1242, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz5845, 2020.
Smith, B., Adusumilli, S., Csathó, B. M., Felikson, D., Fricker, H. A., Gardner, A., Holschuh, N., Lee, J., Nilsson, J., Paolo, F. S., Siegfried, M. R., Sutterley, T., and the ICESat-2 Science Team: ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3 A Land Ice Height, Version 6, [data set], NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL06.006, 2023.
Solgaard, A., Kusk, A., Merryman Boncori, J. P., Dall, J., Mankoff, K. D., Ahlstrøm, A. P., Andersen, S. B., Citterio, M., Karlsson, N. B., Kjeldsen, K. K., Korsgaard, N. J., Larsen, S. H., and Fausto, R. S.: Greenland ice velocity maps from the PROMICE project, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3491–3512, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3491-2021, 2021.
Sun, S. and Gudmundsson, G. H.: The speedup of Pine Island Ice Shelf between 2017 and 2020: revaluating the importance of ice damage, J. Glaciol., 69, 1983–1991, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.76, 2023.
Walker, C. C., Millstein, J. D., Miles, B. W. J., Cook, S., Fraser, A. D., Colliander, A., Misra, S., Trusel, L. D., Adusumilli, S., Roberts, C., and Fricker, H. A.: Multi-decadal collapse of East Antarctica's Conger–Glenzer Ice Shelf, Nat. Geosci. 17, 1240–1248, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01582-3, 2024.
Wallis, B. J., Hogg, A. E., Zhu, Y., and Hooper, A.: Change in grounding line location on the Antarctic Peninsula measured using a tidal motion offset correlation method, The Cryosphere, 18, 4723–4742, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4723-2024, 2024.
Wang, S., Alexander, P. M., Alley, R. B., Huang, Z., Parizek, B. R., Willet, A. G., and Anandakrishnan, S.: Recent variability in fracture characteristics and ice flow of Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 130, e2024JF008118, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JF008118, 2025.
Wegmüller, U., Werner, C., Strozzi, T., Wiesmann, A., Frey, O., and Santoro, M.: Sentinel-1 support in the gamma software, Procedia Comput. Sci., 100, 1305–1312, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2016.09.246, 2016.
Zhang, B., Liu, J., Wang, Z., Liu, T., and Yang, Q.: Antarctic ice-shelf thickness changes from CryoSat-2 SARIn mode measurements: Assessment and comparison with IceBridge and ICESat, J. Earth Syst. Sci., 129, 127, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01392-2, 2020.
Zhu, Y., Hogg, A. E., Hooper, A., and Wallis, B. J.: Short and Long-term Grounding Zone Dynamics of Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-849, 2025.
Zinck, A.-S. P.: BURGEE, [Software], GitHub, https://github.com/aszinck/BURGEE, 2023.
Zinck, A.-S. P., Wouters, B., Lambert, E., and Lhermitte, S.: Unveiling spatial variability within the Dotson Melt Channel through high-resolution basal melt rates from the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 17, 3785–3801, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3785-2023, 2023.
Short summary
Our research examines how temporary contact between floating ice shelves and the seafloor affects ice flow and stability. Analyzing satellite data from 2014 to 2023, we found that tidal forces, ice thickness, and underwater terrain influence grounding events at Pine Island Ice Shelf. These events may have triggered rifts that led to the 2020 iceberg breakoff. Our study emphasizes the need for ongoing monitoring to better predict future changes in Antarctica’s vulnerable ice regions.
Our research examines how temporary contact between floating ice shelves and the seafloor...
