Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers
The coast of Victoria Land extends from Williamson Head (69°11'S, 158°E) to McMurdo Sound (77°S, 163°E). A comparison of various documents and images spanning several decades has allowed the ice front fluctuation and the iceberg calving flux during this century to be estimated. During the perio...
Published in: | Antarctic Science |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1997
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102097000096 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102097000096 |
id |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102097000096 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102097000096 2024-09-09T19:08:38+00:00 Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers Frezzotti, Massimo 1997 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102097000096 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102097000096 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 9, issue 1, page 61-73 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 journal-article 1997 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102097000096 2024-06-19T04:01:21Z The coast of Victoria Land extends from Williamson Head (69°11'S, 158°E) to McMurdo Sound (77°S, 163°E). A comparison of various documents and images spanning several decades has allowed the ice front fluctuation and the iceberg calving flux during this century to be estimated. During the periods from 1956–65 to 1972–73 the floating glaciers underwent a reduction of 978 km 2 with an iceberg calving flux of about 134 km 2 yr −1 . After this, during the periods from 1972–73 to 1989–91, the floating glaciers underwent an advance of 272 km 2 with an iceberg calving flux of about 53 km 2 yr −1 . Glacier tongues with bottom accretion calve less often than those with bottom melting. Most floating glaciers have shown cyclic behaviour without a strong trend. Exceptions to this general style are Hells Gate ice shelf, McMurdo Ice Shelf and floating glaciers of Cape Adare which have undergone a significant retreat since the beginning of the 20th century. The different behaviour of these floating glaciers has been hypothesized as being due to: increased energy available for meltwater production of marine ice that progressively warmed these thin ice shelves and then increased iceberg calving (Hells Gate and McMurdo), or to increased melting at the ice-ocean interface related to a major intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water from the nearby continental slope (Cape Adare). An estimate of the mass balance of East Antarctica from which these glaciers are fed shows a positive value, that is significant despite all the uncertainties of balance measurements. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves McMurdo Ice Shelf McMurdo Sound Victoria Land Cambridge University Press Adare ENVELOPE(170.233,170.233,-71.283,-71.283) Cape Adare ENVELOPE(175.000,175.000,-71.000,-71.000) East Antarctica Hells Gate ENVELOPE(163.800,163.800,-74.850,-74.850) McMurdo Ice Shelf ENVELOPE(166.500,166.500,-78.000,-78.000) McMurdo Sound Victoria Land Williamson ENVELOPE(-65.383,-65.383,-67.717,-67.717) Williamson Head ENVELOPE(158.000,158.000,-69.183,-69.183) Antarctic Science 9 1 61 73 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
The coast of Victoria Land extends from Williamson Head (69°11'S, 158°E) to McMurdo Sound (77°S, 163°E). A comparison of various documents and images spanning several decades has allowed the ice front fluctuation and the iceberg calving flux during this century to be estimated. During the periods from 1956–65 to 1972–73 the floating glaciers underwent a reduction of 978 km 2 with an iceberg calving flux of about 134 km 2 yr −1 . After this, during the periods from 1972–73 to 1989–91, the floating glaciers underwent an advance of 272 km 2 with an iceberg calving flux of about 53 km 2 yr −1 . Glacier tongues with bottom accretion calve less often than those with bottom melting. Most floating glaciers have shown cyclic behaviour without a strong trend. Exceptions to this general style are Hells Gate ice shelf, McMurdo Ice Shelf and floating glaciers of Cape Adare which have undergone a significant retreat since the beginning of the 20th century. The different behaviour of these floating glaciers has been hypothesized as being due to: increased energy available for meltwater production of marine ice that progressively warmed these thin ice shelves and then increased iceberg calving (Hells Gate and McMurdo), or to increased melting at the ice-ocean interface related to a major intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water from the nearby continental slope (Cape Adare). An estimate of the mass balance of East Antarctica from which these glaciers are fed shows a positive value, that is significant despite all the uncertainties of balance measurements. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frezzotti, Massimo |
spellingShingle |
Frezzotti, Massimo Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers |
author_facet |
Frezzotti, Massimo |
author_sort |
Frezzotti, Massimo |
title |
Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers |
title_short |
Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers |
title_full |
Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers |
title_fullStr |
Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of Victoria Land glaciers |
title_sort |
ice front fluctuation, iceberg calving flux and mass balance of victoria land glaciers |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1997 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102097000096 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102097000096 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(170.233,170.233,-71.283,-71.283) ENVELOPE(175.000,175.000,-71.000,-71.000) ENVELOPE(163.800,163.800,-74.850,-74.850) ENVELOPE(166.500,166.500,-78.000,-78.000) ENVELOPE(-65.383,-65.383,-67.717,-67.717) ENVELOPE(158.000,158.000,-69.183,-69.183) |
geographic |
Adare Cape Adare East Antarctica Hells Gate McMurdo Ice Shelf McMurdo Sound Victoria Land Williamson Williamson Head |
geographic_facet |
Adare Cape Adare East Antarctica Hells Gate McMurdo Ice Shelf McMurdo Sound Victoria Land Williamson Williamson Head |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves McMurdo Ice Shelf McMurdo Sound Victoria Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Science Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves McMurdo Ice Shelf McMurdo Sound Victoria Land |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 9, issue 1, page 61-73 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102097000096 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
61 |
op_container_end_page |
73 |
_version_ |
1809822887403585536 |