Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica.
The glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, have undergone acceleration and grounding line retreat over the past few decades that may yield an irreversible mass loss. Using a constellation of satellites, we detect the evolution of ice velocity, ice thinning, and grounding...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt2js4b50g 2023-05-15T13:24:00+02:00 Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. Milillo, P Rignot, E Rizzoli, P Scheuchl, B Mouginot, J Bueso-Bello, J Prats-Iraola, P eaau3433 2019-01-30 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2js4b50g unknown eScholarship, University of California qt2js4b50g https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2js4b50g public Science advances, vol 5, iss 1 article 2019 ftcdlib 2021-05-30T17:54:06Z The glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, have undergone acceleration and grounding line retreat over the past few decades that may yield an irreversible mass loss. Using a constellation of satellites, we detect the evolution of ice velocity, ice thinning, and grounding line retreat of Thwaites Glacier from 1992 to 2017. The results reveal a complex pattern of retreat and ice melt, with sectors retreating at 0.8 km/year and floating ice melting at 200 m/year, while others retreat at 0.3 km/year with ice melting 10 times slower. We interpret the results in terms of buoyancy/slope-driven seawater intrusion along preferential channels at tidal frequencies leading to more efficient melt in newly formed cavities. Such complexities in ice-ocean interaction are not currently represented in coupled ice sheet/ocean models. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica University of California: eScholarship Amundsen Sea Thwaites Glacier ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) West Antarctica |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
description |
The glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, have undergone acceleration and grounding line retreat over the past few decades that may yield an irreversible mass loss. Using a constellation of satellites, we detect the evolution of ice velocity, ice thinning, and grounding line retreat of Thwaites Glacier from 1992 to 2017. The results reveal a complex pattern of retreat and ice melt, with sectors retreating at 0.8 km/year and floating ice melting at 200 m/year, while others retreat at 0.3 km/year with ice melting 10 times slower. We interpret the results in terms of buoyancy/slope-driven seawater intrusion along preferential channels at tidal frequencies leading to more efficient melt in newly formed cavities. Such complexities in ice-ocean interaction are not currently represented in coupled ice sheet/ocean models. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Milillo, P Rignot, E Rizzoli, P Scheuchl, B Mouginot, J Bueso-Bello, J Prats-Iraola, P |
spellingShingle |
Milillo, P Rignot, E Rizzoli, P Scheuchl, B Mouginot, J Bueso-Bello, J Prats-Iraola, P Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. |
author_facet |
Milillo, P Rignot, E Rizzoli, P Scheuchl, B Mouginot, J Bueso-Bello, J Prats-Iraola, P |
author_sort |
Milillo, P |
title |
Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. |
title_short |
Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. |
title_full |
Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. |
title_fullStr |
Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. |
title_sort |
heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of thwaites glacier, west antarctica. |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2js4b50g |
op_coverage |
eaau3433 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) |
geographic |
Amundsen Sea Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Amundsen Sea Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
op_source |
Science advances, vol 5, iss 1 |
op_relation |
qt2js4b50g https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2js4b50g |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1766376835121152000 |