Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016
Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is among the fastest changing glaciers worldwide. Over the last 2 decades, the glacier has lost in excess of a trillion tons of ice, or the equivalent of 3 mm of sea level rise. The ongoing changes are thought to have been triggered by ocean-induced thinning of...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc86365 2023-05-15T13:31:39+02:00 Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar 2021-01-07 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-113-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/113/2021/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-15-113-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/113/2021/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2021 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-113-2021 2021-01-11T17:22:14Z Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is among the fastest changing glaciers worldwide. Over the last 2 decades, the glacier has lost in excess of a trillion tons of ice, or the equivalent of 3 mm of sea level rise. The ongoing changes are thought to have been triggered by ocean-induced thinning of its floating ice shelf, grounding line retreat, and the associated reduction in buttressing forces. However, other drivers of change, such as large-scale calving and changes in ice rheology and basal slipperiness, could play a vital, yet unquantified, role in controlling the ongoing and future evolution of the glacier. In addition, recent studies have shown that mechanical properties of the bed are key to explaining the observed speed-up. Here we used a combination of the latest remote sensing datasets between 1996 and 2016, data assimilation tools, and numerical perturbation experiments to quantify the relative importance of all processes in driving the recent changes in Pine Island Glacier dynamics. We show that (1) calving and ice shelf thinning have caused a comparable reduction in ice shelf buttressing over the past 2 decades; that (2) simulated changes in ice flow over a viscously deforming bed are only compatible with observations if large and widespread changes in ice viscosity and/or basal slipperiness are taken into account; and that (3) a spatially varying, predominantly plastic bed rheology can closely reproduce observed changes in flow without marked variations in ice-internal and basal properties. Our results demonstrate that, in addition to its evolving ice thickness, calving processes and a heterogeneous bed rheology play a key role in the contemporary evolution of Pine Island Glacier. Text Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) West Antarctica The Cryosphere 15 1 113 132 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is among the fastest changing glaciers worldwide. Over the last 2 decades, the glacier has lost in excess of a trillion tons of ice, or the equivalent of 3 mm of sea level rise. The ongoing changes are thought to have been triggered by ocean-induced thinning of its floating ice shelf, grounding line retreat, and the associated reduction in buttressing forces. However, other drivers of change, such as large-scale calving and changes in ice rheology and basal slipperiness, could play a vital, yet unquantified, role in controlling the ongoing and future evolution of the glacier. In addition, recent studies have shown that mechanical properties of the bed are key to explaining the observed speed-up. Here we used a combination of the latest remote sensing datasets between 1996 and 2016, data assimilation tools, and numerical perturbation experiments to quantify the relative importance of all processes in driving the recent changes in Pine Island Glacier dynamics. We show that (1) calving and ice shelf thinning have caused a comparable reduction in ice shelf buttressing over the past 2 decades; that (2) simulated changes in ice flow over a viscously deforming bed are only compatible with observations if large and widespread changes in ice viscosity and/or basal slipperiness are taken into account; and that (3) a spatially varying, predominantly plastic bed rheology can closely reproduce observed changes in flow without marked variations in ice-internal and basal properties. Our results demonstrate that, in addition to its evolving ice thickness, calving processes and a heterogeneous bed rheology play a key role in the contemporary evolution of Pine Island Glacier. |
format |
Text |
author |
Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar |
spellingShingle |
Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
author_facet |
Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar |
author_sort |
Rydt, Jan |
title |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_short |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_full |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_fullStr |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_sort |
drivers of pine island glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-113-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/113/2021/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) |
geographic |
Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-15-113-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/113/2021/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-113-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
113 |
op_container_end_page |
132 |
_version_ |
1766019934025940992 |