Reassessment of ice mass balance at Horseshoe Valley, Antarctica

• 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

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.