Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves
The floating ice shelf in front of Petermann Glacier, in northwest Greenland, experiences massive bottom melting that removes 80% of its ice before calving into the Arctic Ocean. Detailed surveys of the ice shelf reveal the presence of 1-2 km wide, 200-400 in deep, sub-ice shelf channels, aligned wi...
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2008
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt0b88p676 2023-09-05T13:17:20+02:00 Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves Rignot, E Steffen, K 2008-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0b88p676 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt0b88p676 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0b88p676 CC-BY Geophysical Research Letters, vol 35, iss 2 Climate Action Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences article 2008 ftcdlib 2023-08-21T18:07:11Z The floating ice shelf in front of Petermann Glacier, in northwest Greenland, experiences massive bottom melting that removes 80% of its ice before calving into the Arctic Ocean. Detailed surveys of the ice shelf reveal the presence of 1-2 km wide, 200-400 in deep, sub-ice shelf channels, aligned with the flow direction and spaced by 5 km. We attribute their formation to the bottom melting of ice from warm ocean waters underneath. Drilling at the center of one of channel, only 8 m above sea level, confirms the presence of ice-shelf melt water in the channel. These deep incisions in ice-shelf thickness imply a vulnerability to mechanical break up and climate warming of ice shelves that has not been considered previously. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean glacier Greenland Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Petermann glacier University of California: eScholarship Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Climate Action Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Climate Action Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Rignot, E Steffen, K Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves |
topic_facet |
Climate Action Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
description |
The floating ice shelf in front of Petermann Glacier, in northwest Greenland, experiences massive bottom melting that removes 80% of its ice before calving into the Arctic Ocean. Detailed surveys of the ice shelf reveal the presence of 1-2 km wide, 200-400 in deep, sub-ice shelf channels, aligned with the flow direction and spaced by 5 km. We attribute their formation to the bottom melting of ice from warm ocean waters underneath. Drilling at the center of one of channel, only 8 m above sea level, confirms the presence of ice-shelf melt water in the channel. These deep incisions in ice-shelf thickness imply a vulnerability to mechanical break up and climate warming of ice shelves that has not been considered previously. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rignot, E Steffen, K |
author_facet |
Rignot, E Steffen, K |
author_sort |
Rignot, E |
title |
Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves |
title_short |
Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves |
title_full |
Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves |
title_fullStr |
Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves |
title_full_unstemmed |
Channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves |
title_sort |
channelized bottom melting and stability of floating ice shelves |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0b88p676 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean glacier Greenland Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Petermann glacier |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean glacier Greenland Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Petermann glacier |
op_source |
Geophysical Research Letters, vol 35, iss 2 |
op_relation |
qt0b88p676 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0b88p676 |
op_rights |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1776198548538261504 |