Retreating Glacier Fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past Half-Century

The continued retreat of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula has been widely attributed to recent atmospheric warming, but there is little published work describing changes in glacier margin positions. We present trends in 244 marine glacier fronts on the peninsula and associated islands over the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Cook, A. J., Fox, A. J., Vaughan, D. G., Ferrigno, J. G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2005
Subjects:
Multidisciplinary
Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Ice Shelves
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1104235
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1104235
Description
Summary:The continued retreat of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula has been widely attributed to recent atmospheric warming, but there is little published work describing changes in glacier margin positions. We present trends in 244 marine glacier fronts on the peninsula and associated islands over the past 61 years. Of these glaciers, 87% have retreated and a clear boundary between mean advance and retreat has migrated progressively southward. The pattern is broadly compatible with retreat driven by atmospheric warming, but the rapidity of the migration suggests that this may not be the sole driver of glacier retreat in this region.

Similar Items