Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
Ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic perimeter moderate ice discharge towards the ocean through buttressing. Ice-shelf evolution and integrity depend on the local surface accumulation, basal melting and on the spatially variable ice-shelf viscosity. These components of ice-shelf mass balance are of...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc101139 2023-05-15T13:38:41+02:00 Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling Višnjević, Vjeran Drews, Reinhard Schannwell, Clemens Koch, Inka Franke, Steven Jansen, Daniela Eisen, Olaf 2022-11-23 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4763/2022/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4763/2022/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2022 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 2022-11-28T17:22:42Z Ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic perimeter moderate ice discharge towards the ocean through buttressing. Ice-shelf evolution and integrity depend on the local surface accumulation, basal melting and on the spatially variable ice-shelf viscosity. These components of ice-shelf mass balance are often poorly constrained by observations and introduce uncertainties in ice-sheet projections. Isochronal radar stratigraphy is an observational archive for the atmospheric, oceanographic and ice-flow history of ice shelves. Here, we predict the stratigraphy of locally accumulated ice on ice shelves with a kinematic forward model for a given atmospheric and oceanographic scenario. This delineates the boundary between local meteoric ice (LMI) and continental meteoric ice (CMI). A large LMI to CMI ratio hereby marks ice shelves whose buttressing strength is more sensitive to changes in atmospheric precipitation patterns. A mismatch between the steady-state predictions of the kinematic forward model and observations from radar can highlight inconsistencies in the atmospheric and oceanographic input data or be an indicator for a transient ice-shelf history not accounted for in the model. We discuss pitfalls in numerical diffusion when calculating the age field and validate the kinematic model with the full Stokes ice-flow model Elmer/Ice. The Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (East Antarctica) serves as a test case for this approach. There, we find a significant east–west gradient in the LMI / CMI ratio. The steady-state predictions concur with observations on larger spatial scales ( >10 km), but deviations on smaller scales are significant, e.g., because local surface accumulation patterns near the grounding zone are underestimated in Antarctic-wide estimates. Future studies can use these mismatches to optimize the input data or to pinpoint transient signatures in the ice-shelf history using the ever growing archive of radar observations of internal ice stratigraphy. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic East Antarctica Roi Baudouin ENVELOPE(24.461,24.461,-70.438,-70.438) The Antarctic The Cryosphere 16 11 4763 4777 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic perimeter moderate ice discharge towards the ocean through buttressing. Ice-shelf evolution and integrity depend on the local surface accumulation, basal melting and on the spatially variable ice-shelf viscosity. These components of ice-shelf mass balance are often poorly constrained by observations and introduce uncertainties in ice-sheet projections. Isochronal radar stratigraphy is an observational archive for the atmospheric, oceanographic and ice-flow history of ice shelves. Here, we predict the stratigraphy of locally accumulated ice on ice shelves with a kinematic forward model for a given atmospheric and oceanographic scenario. This delineates the boundary between local meteoric ice (LMI) and continental meteoric ice (CMI). A large LMI to CMI ratio hereby marks ice shelves whose buttressing strength is more sensitive to changes in atmospheric precipitation patterns. A mismatch between the steady-state predictions of the kinematic forward model and observations from radar can highlight inconsistencies in the atmospheric and oceanographic input data or be an indicator for a transient ice-shelf history not accounted for in the model. We discuss pitfalls in numerical diffusion when calculating the age field and validate the kinematic model with the full Stokes ice-flow model Elmer/Ice. The Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (East Antarctica) serves as a test case for this approach. There, we find a significant east–west gradient in the LMI / CMI ratio. The steady-state predictions concur with observations on larger spatial scales ( >10 km), but deviations on smaller scales are significant, e.g., because local surface accumulation patterns near the grounding zone are underestimated in Antarctic-wide estimates. Future studies can use these mismatches to optimize the input data or to pinpoint transient signatures in the ice-shelf history using the ever growing archive of radar observations of internal ice stratigraphy. |
format |
Text |
author |
Višnjević, Vjeran Drews, Reinhard Schannwell, Clemens Koch, Inka Franke, Steven Jansen, Daniela Eisen, Olaf |
spellingShingle |
Višnjević, Vjeran Drews, Reinhard Schannwell, Clemens Koch, Inka Franke, Steven Jansen, Daniela Eisen, Olaf Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling |
author_facet |
Višnjević, Vjeran Drews, Reinhard Schannwell, Clemens Koch, Inka Franke, Steven Jansen, Daniela Eisen, Olaf |
author_sort |
Višnjević, Vjeran |
title |
Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling |
title_short |
Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling |
title_full |
Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling |
title_fullStr |
Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling |
title_full_unstemmed |
Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling |
title_sort |
predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4763/2022/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(24.461,24.461,-70.438,-70.438) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Roi Baudouin The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Roi Baudouin The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4763/2022/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
4763 |
op_container_end_page |
4777 |
_version_ |
1766109675638489088 |