Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping
We calculate rates of ice thickness change and bottom melt for ice shelves in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula from a combination of elevation measurements from NASA–CECS Antarctic ice mapping campaigns and NASA Operation IceBridge corrected for oceanic processes from measurements and mod...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1801-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1801/2019/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc71184 2023-05-15T13:55:28+02:00 Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping Sutterley, Tyler C. Markus, Thorsten Neumann, Thomas A. Broeke, Michiel Wessem, J. Melchior Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. 2019-07-08 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1801-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1801/2019/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-13-1801-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1801/2019/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2019 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1801-2019 2020-07-20T16:22:46Z We calculate rates of ice thickness change and bottom melt for ice shelves in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula from a combination of elevation measurements from NASA–CECS Antarctic ice mapping campaigns and NASA Operation IceBridge corrected for oceanic processes from measurements and models, surface velocity measurements from synthetic aperture radar, and high-resolution outputs from regional climate models. The ice thickness change rates are calculated in a Lagrangian reference frame to reduce the effects from advection of sharp vertical features, such as cracks and crevasses, that can saturate Eulerian-derived estimates. We use our method over different ice shelves in Antarctica, which vary in terms of size, repeat coverage from airborne altimetry, and dominant processes governing their recent changes. We find that the Larsen-C Ice Shelf is close to steady state over our observation period with spatial variations in ice thickness largely due to the flux divergence of the shelf. Firn and surface processes are responsible for some short-term variability in ice thickness of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf over the time period. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is sensitive to short-timescale coastal and upper-ocean processes, and basal melt is the dominant contributor to the ice thickness change over the period. At the Pine Island Ice Shelf in the critical region near the grounding zone, we find that ice shelf thickness change rates exceed 40 m yr −1 , with the change dominated by strong submarine melting. Regions near the grounding zones of the Dotson and Crosson ice shelves are decreasing in thickness at rates greater than 40 m yr −1 , also due to intense basal melt. NASA–CECS Antarctic ice mapping and NASA Operation IceBridge campaigns provide validation datasets for floating ice shelves at moderately high resolution when coregistered using Lagrangian methods. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Pine Island West Antarctica Wilkins Ice Shelf Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica Wilkins ENVELOPE(59.326,59.326,-67.248,-67.248) Wilkins Ice Shelf ENVELOPE(-72.500,-72.500,-70.416,-70.416) The Cryosphere 13 7 1801 1817 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
We calculate rates of ice thickness change and bottom melt for ice shelves in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula from a combination of elevation measurements from NASA–CECS Antarctic ice mapping campaigns and NASA Operation IceBridge corrected for oceanic processes from measurements and models, surface velocity measurements from synthetic aperture radar, and high-resolution outputs from regional climate models. The ice thickness change rates are calculated in a Lagrangian reference frame to reduce the effects from advection of sharp vertical features, such as cracks and crevasses, that can saturate Eulerian-derived estimates. We use our method over different ice shelves in Antarctica, which vary in terms of size, repeat coverage from airborne altimetry, and dominant processes governing their recent changes. We find that the Larsen-C Ice Shelf is close to steady state over our observation period with spatial variations in ice thickness largely due to the flux divergence of the shelf. Firn and surface processes are responsible for some short-term variability in ice thickness of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf over the time period. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is sensitive to short-timescale coastal and upper-ocean processes, and basal melt is the dominant contributor to the ice thickness change over the period. At the Pine Island Ice Shelf in the critical region near the grounding zone, we find that ice shelf thickness change rates exceed 40 m yr −1 , with the change dominated by strong submarine melting. Regions near the grounding zones of the Dotson and Crosson ice shelves are decreasing in thickness at rates greater than 40 m yr −1 , also due to intense basal melt. NASA–CECS Antarctic ice mapping and NASA Operation IceBridge campaigns provide validation datasets for floating ice shelves at moderately high resolution when coregistered using Lagrangian methods. |
format |
Text |
author |
Sutterley, Tyler C. Markus, Thorsten Neumann, Thomas A. Broeke, Michiel Wessem, J. Melchior Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. |
spellingShingle |
Sutterley, Tyler C. Markus, Thorsten Neumann, Thomas A. Broeke, Michiel Wessem, J. Melchior Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping |
author_facet |
Sutterley, Tyler C. Markus, Thorsten Neumann, Thomas A. Broeke, Michiel Wessem, J. Melchior Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. |
author_sort |
Sutterley, Tyler C. |
title |
Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping |
title_short |
Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping |
title_full |
Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping |
title_fullStr |
Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping |
title_full_unstemmed |
Antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping |
title_sort |
antarctic ice shelf thickness change from multimission lidar mapping |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1801-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1801/2019/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(59.326,59.326,-67.248,-67.248) ENVELOPE(-72.500,-72.500,-70.416,-70.416) |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica Wilkins Wilkins Ice Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica Wilkins Wilkins Ice Shelf |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Pine Island West Antarctica Wilkins Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Pine Island West Antarctica Wilkins Ice Shelf |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-13-1801-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1801/2019/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1801-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
1801 |
op_container_end_page |
1817 |
_version_ |
1766262112026361856 |