Ice Scour Disturbance in Antarctic Waters

The West Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, and, as a consequence, most maritime glaciers and ice shelves in the region have significantly retreated over the past few decades. We collected a multiyear data set on ice scouring frequency from Antarctica by using unique...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Smale, Dan A., Brown, Kirsty M., Barnes, David K. A., Fraser, Keiron P. P., Clarke, Andrew
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2008
Subjects:
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Shelves
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1158647
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1158647
Description
Summary:The West Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, and, as a consequence, most maritime glaciers and ice shelves in the region have significantly retreated over the past few decades. We collected a multiyear data set on ice scouring frequency from Antarctica by using unique experimental markers and scuba diving surveys. We show that the annual intensity of ice scouring is negatively correlated with the duration of the winter fast ice season. Because fast ice extent and duration is currently in decline in the region after recent rapid warming, it is likely that marine benthic communities are set for even more scouring in the near future.

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