Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry
Despite the potentially detrimental impact of large-scale calving events on the geometry and ice flow of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the processes that drive rift formation prior to calving, or what controls the timing of these events. The Brunt Ice Shelf in East Antarctica presen...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc75034 2023-05-15T13:55:28+02:00 Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry Rydt, Jan Gudmundsson, Gudmundur Hilmar Nagler, Thomas Wuite, Jan 2019-10-25 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2771-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/2771/2019/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-13-2771-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/2771/2019/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2019 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2771-2019 2020-07-20T16:22:36Z Despite the potentially detrimental impact of large-scale calving events on the geometry and ice flow of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the processes that drive rift formation prior to calving, or what controls the timing of these events. The Brunt Ice Shelf in East Antarctica presents a rare natural laboratory to study these processes, following the recent formation of two rifts, each now exceeding 50 km in length. Here we use 2 decades of in situ and remote sensing observations, together with numerical modelling, to reveal how slow changes in ice shelf geometry over time caused build-up of mechanical tension far upstream of the ice front, and culminated in rift formation and a significant speed-up of the ice shelf. These internal feedbacks, whereby ice shelves generate the very conditions that lead to their own (partial) disintegration, are currently missing from ice flow models, which severely limits their ability to accurately predict future sea level rise. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Brunt Ice Shelf East Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica Brunt Ice Shelf ENVELOPE(-22.500,-22.500,-74.750,-74.750) The Cryosphere 13 10 2771 2787 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Despite the potentially detrimental impact of large-scale calving events on the geometry and ice flow of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the processes that drive rift formation prior to calving, or what controls the timing of these events. The Brunt Ice Shelf in East Antarctica presents a rare natural laboratory to study these processes, following the recent formation of two rifts, each now exceeding 50 km in length. Here we use 2 decades of in situ and remote sensing observations, together with numerical modelling, to reveal how slow changes in ice shelf geometry over time caused build-up of mechanical tension far upstream of the ice front, and culminated in rift formation and a significant speed-up of the ice shelf. These internal feedbacks, whereby ice shelves generate the very conditions that lead to their own (partial) disintegration, are currently missing from ice flow models, which severely limits their ability to accurately predict future sea level rise. |
format |
Text |
author |
Rydt, Jan Gudmundsson, Gudmundur Hilmar Nagler, Thomas Wuite, Jan |
spellingShingle |
Rydt, Jan Gudmundsson, Gudmundur Hilmar Nagler, Thomas Wuite, Jan Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry |
author_facet |
Rydt, Jan Gudmundsson, Gudmundur Hilmar Nagler, Thomas Wuite, Jan |
author_sort |
Rydt, Jan |
title |
Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry |
title_short |
Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry |
title_full |
Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry |
title_fullStr |
Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry |
title_full_unstemmed |
Calving cycle of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry |
title_sort |
calving cycle of the brunt ice shelf, antarctica, driven by changes in ice shelf geometry |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2771-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/2771/2019/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-22.500,-22.500,-74.750,-74.750) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica Brunt Ice Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica Brunt Ice Shelf |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Brunt Ice Shelf East Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Brunt Ice Shelf East Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-13-2771-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/2771/2019/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2771-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
2771 |
op_container_end_page |
2787 |
_version_ |
1766262107698888704 |