Tidally Controlled Stick-Slip Discharge of a West Antarctic Ice

A major West Antarctic ice stream discharges by sudden and brief periods of very rapid motion paced by oceanic tidal oscillations of about 1 meter. Acceleration to speeds greater than 1 meter per hour and deceleration back to a stationary state occur in minutes or less. Slip propagates at approximat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Bindschadler, Robert A., King, Matt A., Alley, Richard B., Anandakrishnan, Sridhar, Padman, Laurence
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2003
Subjects:
Antarctic
Antarc*
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1087231
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1087231
Description
Summary:A major West Antarctic ice stream discharges by sudden and brief periods of very rapid motion paced by oceanic tidal oscillations of about 1 meter. Acceleration to speeds greater than 1 meter per hour and deceleration back to a stationary state occur in minutes or less. Slip propagates at approximately 88 meters per second, suggestive of a shear wave traveling within the subglacial till. A model of an episodically slipping friction-locked fault reproduces the observed quasi-periodic event timing, demonstrating an ice stream's ability to change speed rapidly and its extreme sensitivity to subglacial conditions and variations in sea level.

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