Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades
The safety band of Antarctica, consisting of floating glacier tongues and ice shelves, buttresses ice discharge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent disintegration events of ice shelves along with glacier retreat indicate a weakening of this important safety band. Predicting calving front retreat is a...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc88260 2023-05-15T14:02:17+02:00 Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades Baumhoer, Celia A. Dietz, Andreas J. Kneisel, Christof Paeth, Heiko Kuenzer, Claudia 2021-05-20 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2357/2021/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2357/2021/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2021 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 2021-05-24T16:22:13Z The safety band of Antarctica, consisting of floating glacier tongues and ice shelves, buttresses ice discharge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent disintegration events of ice shelves along with glacier retreat indicate a weakening of this important safety band. Predicting calving front retreat is a real challenge due to complex ice dynamics in a data-scarce environment that are unique for each ice shelf and glacier. We explore the extent to which easy-to-access remote sensing and modeling data can help to define environmental conditions leading to calving front retreat. For the first time, we present a circum-Antarctic record of glacier and ice shelf front change over the last two decades in combination with environmental variables such as air temperature, sea ice days, snowmelt, sea surface temperature, and wind direction. We find that the Antarctic Ice Sheet area decreased by − 29 618 ± 1193 km 2 in extent between 1997–2008 and gained an area of 7108 ± 1029 km 2 between 2009 and 2018. Retreat concentrated along the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica including the biggest ice shelves (Ross and Ronne). In several cases, glacier and ice shelf retreat occurred in conjunction with one or several changes in environmental variables. Decreasing sea ice days, intense snowmelt, weakening easterlies, and relative changes in sea surface temperature were identified as enabling factors for retreat. In contrast, relative increases in mean air temperature did not correlate with calving front retreat. For future studies a more appropriate measure for atmospheric forcing should be considered, including above-zero-degree days and temperature extreme events. To better understand drivers of glacier and ice shelf retreat, it is critical to analyze the magnitude of basal melt through the intrusion of warm Circumpolar Deep Water that is driven by strengthening westerlies and to further assess surface hydrology processes such as meltwater ponding, runoff, and lake drainage. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice West Antarctica Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula West Antarctica The Cryosphere 15 5 2357 2381 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
The safety band of Antarctica, consisting of floating glacier tongues and ice shelves, buttresses ice discharge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent disintegration events of ice shelves along with glacier retreat indicate a weakening of this important safety band. Predicting calving front retreat is a real challenge due to complex ice dynamics in a data-scarce environment that are unique for each ice shelf and glacier. We explore the extent to which easy-to-access remote sensing and modeling data can help to define environmental conditions leading to calving front retreat. For the first time, we present a circum-Antarctic record of glacier and ice shelf front change over the last two decades in combination with environmental variables such as air temperature, sea ice days, snowmelt, sea surface temperature, and wind direction. We find that the Antarctic Ice Sheet area decreased by − 29 618 ± 1193 km 2 in extent between 1997–2008 and gained an area of 7108 ± 1029 km 2 between 2009 and 2018. Retreat concentrated along the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica including the biggest ice shelves (Ross and Ronne). In several cases, glacier and ice shelf retreat occurred in conjunction with one or several changes in environmental variables. Decreasing sea ice days, intense snowmelt, weakening easterlies, and relative changes in sea surface temperature were identified as enabling factors for retreat. In contrast, relative increases in mean air temperature did not correlate with calving front retreat. For future studies a more appropriate measure for atmospheric forcing should be considered, including above-zero-degree days and temperature extreme events. To better understand drivers of glacier and ice shelf retreat, it is critical to analyze the magnitude of basal melt through the intrusion of warm Circumpolar Deep Water that is driven by strengthening westerlies and to further assess surface hydrology processes such as meltwater ponding, runoff, and lake drainage. |
format |
Text |
author |
Baumhoer, Celia A. Dietz, Andreas J. Kneisel, Christof Paeth, Heiko Kuenzer, Claudia |
spellingShingle |
Baumhoer, Celia A. Dietz, Andreas J. Kneisel, Christof Paeth, Heiko Kuenzer, Claudia Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
author_facet |
Baumhoer, Celia A. Dietz, Andreas J. Kneisel, Christof Paeth, Heiko Kuenzer, Claudia |
author_sort |
Baumhoer, Celia A. |
title |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_short |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_full |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_fullStr |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_sort |
environmental drivers of circum-antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2357/2021/ |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice West Antarctica |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2357/2021/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2357 |
op_container_end_page |
2381 |
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1766272440850186240 |