A MASS BALANCE STUDY OF THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET

• Main Authors: Vandy Blue Spikes, Steven Arcone, U. S. Army Erdc Crrel, Blue Spikes
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Antarctic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.587.4751; http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/SpikesVB2003.pdf

The present state of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) is a prime concern of science, but its large size and remote location have limited the amount of reliable data that are available for mass balance calculations. The spatial pattern of mass balance for a 100-km2 portion of the WAIS is estimated by calculating the residual flux of ice through 1-km grid cells organized into a geographical information system (GIs). The input data used for this estimate include continent-scale compilations of ice thickness and snow accumulation rate measurements, and ground-based measurements of snow accumulation rate and ice velocity. The calculation was performed using different combinations of input data so that error sources could be identified. The largest sources of error were associated with the continent-scale compilations of accumulation rate and ice thickness. These errors are greatly reduced when using snow accumulation rates derived from ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys. The best results, which agree with two previous estimates, suggest that this area is nearly in balance. Results also indicate that the mass balance varies within this 100-km2 grid. In some portions of the grid, local variations in mass balance correspond with measured changes in ice velocity and snow accumulation