Reassessment of ice mass balance at Horseshoe Valley, Antarctica

Abstract Horseshoe Valley (80°18′S, 81°22′W) is a 30 km wide glaciated valley at the south-eastern end of Ellsworth Mountains draining into the Hercules inlet, Ronne Ice Shelf. The ice at Horseshoe Valley has been considered stable; now we use Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements obtained be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antarctic Science
Main Authors: Wendt, Anja, Casassa, Gino, Rivera, Andres, Wendt, Jens
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2009
Subjects:
Geology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Oceanography
Ronne Ice Shelf
Ellsworth Mountains
Hercules
Patriot Hills
Horseshoe Valley
Hercules Inlet
Antarc*
Antarctic Science
Antarctica
Ice Shelf
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102009002053
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102009002053
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Summary:Abstract Horseshoe Valley (80°18′S, 81°22′W) is a 30 km wide glaciated valley at the south-eastern end of Ellsworth Mountains draining into the Hercules inlet, Ronne Ice Shelf. The ice at Horseshoe Valley has been considered stable; now we use Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements obtained between 1996 and 2006 to investigate ice elevation change and mass balance. Comparison of surface heights on a profile across Horseshoe Valley reveals a slight but significant elevation increase of 0.04 m a -1 ± 0.002 m a -1 . The blue ice area of Patriot Hills (∼13 km 2 ) at the mount of Horseshoe Valley shows large interannual variability in area, with a maximum extent in 1997, an exceptionally warm summer, but no clear multi-year trend, and an elevation increase of 0.05 m a -1 in eight years, which agrees with the result from Horseshoe Valley.

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