Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines
In the Amundsen Sea, modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW) intrudes into ice shelf cavities, causing high ice shelf melting near the ice sheet grounding lines, accelerating ice flow, and controlling the pace of future Antarctic contributions to global sea level. The pathways of mCDW towards groundi...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
eScholarship, University of California
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0d77b2k9 |
id |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt0d77b2k9 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt0d77b2k9 2023-11-05T03:31:57+01:00 Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines Nakayama, Yoshihiro Manucharyan, Georgy Zhang, Hong Dutrieux, Pierre Torres, Hector S Klein, Patrice Seroussi, Helene Schodlok, Michael Rignot, Eric Menemenlis, Dimitris 16649 2019-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0d77b2k9 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt0d77b2k9 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0d77b2k9 public Scientific Reports, vol 9, iss 1 Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Life Below Water article 2019 ftcdlib 2023-10-09T18:06:38Z In the Amundsen Sea, modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW) intrudes into ice shelf cavities, causing high ice shelf melting near the ice sheet grounding lines, accelerating ice flow, and controlling the pace of future Antarctic contributions to global sea level. The pathways of mCDW towards grounding lines are crucial as they directly control the heat reaching the ice. A realistic representation of mCDW circulation, however, remains challenging due to the sparsity of in-situ observations and the difficulty of ocean models to reproduce the available observations. In this study, we use an unprecedentedly high-resolution (200 m horizontal and 10 m vertical grid spacing) ocean model that resolves shelf-sea and sub-ice-shelf environments in qualitative agreement with existing observations during austral summer conditions. We demonstrate that the waters reaching the Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines follow specific, topographically-constrained routes, all passing through a relatively small area located around 104°W and 74.3°S. The temporal and spatial variabilities of ice shelf melt rates are dominantly controlled by the sub-ice shelf ocean current. Our findings highlight the importance of accurate and high-resolution ocean bathymetry and subglacial topography for determining mCDW pathways and ice shelf melt rates. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf University of California: eScholarship |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Life Below Water |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Life Below Water Nakayama, Yoshihiro Manucharyan, Georgy Zhang, Hong Dutrieux, Pierre Torres, Hector S Klein, Patrice Seroussi, Helene Schodlok, Michael Rignot, Eric Menemenlis, Dimitris Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Life Below Water |
description |
In the Amundsen Sea, modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW) intrudes into ice shelf cavities, causing high ice shelf melting near the ice sheet grounding lines, accelerating ice flow, and controlling the pace of future Antarctic contributions to global sea level. The pathways of mCDW towards grounding lines are crucial as they directly control the heat reaching the ice. A realistic representation of mCDW circulation, however, remains challenging due to the sparsity of in-situ observations and the difficulty of ocean models to reproduce the available observations. In this study, we use an unprecedentedly high-resolution (200 m horizontal and 10 m vertical grid spacing) ocean model that resolves shelf-sea and sub-ice-shelf environments in qualitative agreement with existing observations during austral summer conditions. We demonstrate that the waters reaching the Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines follow specific, topographically-constrained routes, all passing through a relatively small area located around 104°W and 74.3°S. The temporal and spatial variabilities of ice shelf melt rates are dominantly controlled by the sub-ice shelf ocean current. Our findings highlight the importance of accurate and high-resolution ocean bathymetry and subglacial topography for determining mCDW pathways and ice shelf melt rates. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nakayama, Yoshihiro Manucharyan, Georgy Zhang, Hong Dutrieux, Pierre Torres, Hector S Klein, Patrice Seroussi, Helene Schodlok, Michael Rignot, Eric Menemenlis, Dimitris |
author_facet |
Nakayama, Yoshihiro Manucharyan, Georgy Zhang, Hong Dutrieux, Pierre Torres, Hector S Klein, Patrice Seroussi, Helene Schodlok, Michael Rignot, Eric Menemenlis, Dimitris |
author_sort |
Nakayama, Yoshihiro |
title |
Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines |
title_short |
Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines |
title_full |
Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines |
title_fullStr |
Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pathways of ocean heat towards Pine Island and Thwaites grounding lines |
title_sort |
pathways of ocean heat towards pine island and thwaites grounding lines |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0d77b2k9 |
op_coverage |
16649 |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf |
op_source |
Scientific Reports, vol 9, iss 1 |
op_relation |
qt0d77b2k9 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0d77b2k9 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1781692338312052736 |