Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level
Temperature records in the Antarctic Peninsula have shown a climatic warming of 1.5°C over the past 30 years and a number of ice shelves have retreated. The most dramatic retreat has been that of Wordie Ice Shelf which has undergone a catastrophic disintegration since the 1960s. Understanding the ca...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1993
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102093000537 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102093000537 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102093000537 2024-04-07T07:46:44+00:00 Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level Vaughan, David G. 1993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102093000537 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102093000537 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 5, issue 4, page 403-408 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography journal-article 1993 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102093000537 2024-03-08T00:36:29Z Temperature records in the Antarctic Peninsula have shown a climatic warming of 1.5°C over the past 30 years and a number of ice shelves have retreated. The most dramatic retreat has been that of Wordie Ice Shelf which has undergone a catastrophic disintegration since the 1960s. Understanding the cause and mechanism of the break-up may provide important clues to the fate of ice shelves farther south which, it has been suggested, help to stabilize the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf has been analysed using Landsat and SPOT imagery. These observations show that the relative contribution of the various input glaciers to the grounding line flux has not altered during the break-up. This means that the effect of the rapid and almost complete removal of the ice shelf has not been transmitted upstream and is not causing a rapid increase in velocities on the input glaciers. The volume of grounded ice in the catchment of Wordie Ice Shelf will thus, be largely unaffected by the break-up and there will be no significant contribution to sea level change. Since other ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula are also fed by relatively steep mountain glaciers the effect of the loss of the ice shelves on sea level would be likely to be similarly small. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctic Science Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Wordie Ice Shelf Cambridge University Press Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula West Antarctic Ice Sheet Wordie ENVELOPE(-67.500,-67.500,-69.167,-69.167) Wordie Ice Shelf ENVELOPE(-67.750,-67.750,-69.250,-69.250) Antarctic Science 5 4 403 408 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography Vaughan, David G. Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level |
topic_facet |
Geology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Oceanography |
description |
Temperature records in the Antarctic Peninsula have shown a climatic warming of 1.5°C over the past 30 years and a number of ice shelves have retreated. The most dramatic retreat has been that of Wordie Ice Shelf which has undergone a catastrophic disintegration since the 1960s. Understanding the cause and mechanism of the break-up may provide important clues to the fate of ice shelves farther south which, it has been suggested, help to stabilize the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf has been analysed using Landsat and SPOT imagery. These observations show that the relative contribution of the various input glaciers to the grounding line flux has not altered during the break-up. This means that the effect of the rapid and almost complete removal of the ice shelf has not been transmitted upstream and is not causing a rapid increase in velocities on the input glaciers. The volume of grounded ice in the catchment of Wordie Ice Shelf will thus, be largely unaffected by the break-up and there will be no significant contribution to sea level change. Since other ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula are also fed by relatively steep mountain glaciers the effect of the loss of the ice shelves on sea level would be likely to be similarly small. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vaughan, David G. |
author_facet |
Vaughan, David G. |
author_sort |
Vaughan, David G. |
title |
Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level |
title_short |
Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level |
title_full |
Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level |
title_fullStr |
Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level |
title_full_unstemmed |
Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level |
title_sort |
implications of the break-up of wordie ice shelf, antarctica for sea level |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1993 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102093000537 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102093000537 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.500,-67.500,-69.167,-69.167) ENVELOPE(-67.750,-67.750,-69.250,-69.250) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula West Antarctic Ice Sheet Wordie Wordie Ice Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula West Antarctic Ice Sheet Wordie Wordie Ice Shelf |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctic Science Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Wordie Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctic Science Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Wordie Ice Shelf |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 5, issue 4, page 403-408 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102093000537 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
403 |
op_container_end_page |
408 |
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1795668353640038400 |