The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula
The outlet glaciers to the embayment of the Larsen-B Ice Shelf started to accelerate soon after the ice shelf disintegrated in March 2002. We analyse high resolution radar images of the TerraSAR-X satellite, launched in June 2007, to map the motion of outlet glaciers in detail. The frontal velocitie...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc8560 2023-05-15T13:36:36+02:00 The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula Rott, H. Müller, F. Nagler, T. Floricioiu, D. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-125-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/125/2011/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-5-125-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/125/2011/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-125-2011 2020-07-20T16:26:11Z The outlet glaciers to the embayment of the Larsen-B Ice Shelf started to accelerate soon after the ice shelf disintegrated in March 2002. We analyse high resolution radar images of the TerraSAR-X satellite, launched in June 2007, to map the motion of outlet glaciers in detail. The frontal velocities are used to estimate the calving fluxes for 2008/2009. As reference for pre-collapse conditions, when the glaciers were in balanced state, the ice fluxes through the same gates are computed using ice motion maps derived from interferometric data of the ERS-1/ERS-2 satellites in 1995 and 1999. Profiles of satellite laser altimetry from ICESat, crossing the terminus of several glaciers, indicate considerable glacier thinning between 2003 and 2007/2008. This is taken into account for defining the calving cross sections. The difference between the pre- and post-collapse fluxes provides an estimate on the mass imbalance. For the Larsen-B embayment the 2008 mass deficit is estimated at 4.34 ± 1.64 Gt a −1 , significantly lower than previously published values. The ice flow acceleration follows a similar pattern on the various glaciers, gradually decreasing in magnitude with distance upstream from the calving front. This suggests stress perturbation at the glacier front being the main factor for acceleration. So far there are no signs of slow-down indicating that dynamic thinning and frontal retreat will go on. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Cryosphere 5 1 125 134 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
The outlet glaciers to the embayment of the Larsen-B Ice Shelf started to accelerate soon after the ice shelf disintegrated in March 2002. We analyse high resolution radar images of the TerraSAR-X satellite, launched in June 2007, to map the motion of outlet glaciers in detail. The frontal velocities are used to estimate the calving fluxes for 2008/2009. As reference for pre-collapse conditions, when the glaciers were in balanced state, the ice fluxes through the same gates are computed using ice motion maps derived from interferometric data of the ERS-1/ERS-2 satellites in 1995 and 1999. Profiles of satellite laser altimetry from ICESat, crossing the terminus of several glaciers, indicate considerable glacier thinning between 2003 and 2007/2008. This is taken into account for defining the calving cross sections. The difference between the pre- and post-collapse fluxes provides an estimate on the mass imbalance. For the Larsen-B embayment the 2008 mass deficit is estimated at 4.34 ± 1.64 Gt a −1 , significantly lower than previously published values. The ice flow acceleration follows a similar pattern on the various glaciers, gradually decreasing in magnitude with distance upstream from the calving front. This suggests stress perturbation at the glacier front being the main factor for acceleration. So far there are no signs of slow-down indicating that dynamic thinning and frontal retreat will go on. |
format |
Text |
author |
Rott, H. Müller, F. Nagler, T. Floricioiu, D. |
spellingShingle |
Rott, H. Müller, F. Nagler, T. Floricioiu, D. The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
author_facet |
Rott, H. Müller, F. Nagler, T. Floricioiu, D. |
author_sort |
Rott, H. |
title |
The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_short |
The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full |
The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_fullStr |
The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full_unstemmed |
The imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of Larsen-B ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_sort |
imbalance of glaciers after disintegration of larsen-b ice shelf, antarctic peninsula |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-125-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/125/2011/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-5-125-2011 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/5/125/2011/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-125-2011 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
125 |
op_container_end_page |
134 |
_version_ |
1766081335975215104 |