Basal roughness of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and indications for its basal thermal state

• Main Authors: Winter, Anna, Steinhage, Daniel, Kleiner, Thomas, Humbert, Angelika, Eisen, Olaf
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/49853/; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.514ed251-c47f-449a-ae6f-c8e8599d84a8

Basal motion of ice sheets represents a large uncertainty in ice-flow models, as it dependends on the roughness and material of the subglacial bed and the occurrence of water. It is the part of the total flow speed that can change most rapidly and can therefore facilitate rapid variations in the dynamic behaviour of ice sheets. In this study we investigate the subglacial properties of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet by statistically analyzing the roughness of the bed topography, which is inferred from radio-echo sounding measurements. The roughness analysis with two roughness parameters enables a classification of the subglacial landscapes below the ice sheet. The roughness parameters are correlated with the flow speed of the ice and modeled basal temperatures. The observed relationships lead to the conclusion that one of the roughness parameters might indicate the thermal condition at the base of the ice sheet. If confirmed by further studies, this could be used as an additional method for predicting the basal thermal regime.