Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry
The geometry of the sea floor beyond Thwaites Glacier (TG) is a major control on the routing of warm ocean waters towards the ice stream’s grounding zone, which has led to increased mass loss through sub-ice-shelf melting and resulting accelerated ice flow. Nearshore topographic highs act as pinning...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tcd83109 2023-05-15T13:24:20+02:00 Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry Hogan, Kelly A. Larter, Robert D. Graham, Alastair G. C. Arthern, Robert Kirkham, James D. Totten Minzoni, Rebecca Jordan, Tom A. Clark, Rachel Fitzgerald, Victoria Anderson, John B. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Nitsche, Frank O. Simkins, Lauren Smith, James A. Gohl, Karsten Arndt, Jan Erik Hong, Jongkuk Wellner, Julia 2020-02-03 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-25 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-25/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-2020-25 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-25/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-25 2020-07-20T16:22:26Z The geometry of the sea floor beyond Thwaites Glacier (TG) is a major control on the routing of warm ocean waters towards the ice stream’s grounding zone, which has led to increased mass loss through sub-ice-shelf melting and resulting accelerated ice flow. Nearshore topographic highs act as pinning points for the Thwaites Ice Shelf and potentially provide barriers to warm water incursions. To date, few vessels have been able to access this area due to persistent sea-ice and iceberg cover. This critical data gap was addressed in 2019 during the first cruise of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) project, with more than 2000 km 2 of new multibeam echo-sounder data (MBES) were acquired offshore TG. Here, these data along with legacy MBES datasets are compiled to produce a set of standalone bathymetric grids for the inner Amundsen Sea shelf beyond both Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. At TG, the bathymetry is dominated by a > 1200 m deep, structurally-controlled trough and discontinuous ridge, on which the Eastern Ice Shelf is pinned. The geometry and composition of the ridge varies spatially with some parts having distinctive flat-topped morphologies produced as their tops were planed-off by erosion at the base of the seaward-moving Thwaites Ice Shelf, suggesting a positive feedback mechanism for ice-shelf ungrounding. Knowing that this offshore area is a former bed for TG, we applied a novel spectral approach to investigate bed roughness and find that derived power spectra can be approximated using an inverse-square law, a result that is consistent with spectra for bed profiles from the modern TG. Using existing ice-flow theory, we also make a first assessment of the form drag (basal drag contribution) for ice flow over this topography. Ice flowing over the sea-floor troughs and ridges would have been affected by similarly high basal drag to that acting in the grounding zone today. We show that the sea-floor bathymetry is an analogue for extant bed areas of TG and that more can be gleaned from these 3D bathymetric datasets regarding the likely spatial variability of bed roughness and bed composition types underneath TG. Comparisons with existing regional bathymetric compilations for the area show that high-frequency (finer than 5 km) bathymetric variability beyond Antarctic ice shelves can only be resolved by observations such as MBES and that without these data calculations of the capacity of bathymetric troughs, and thus oceanic heat flux, may be significantly underestimated. This work meets the requirements of recent numerical ice-sheet and ocean modelling studies that have recognised the need for accurate and high-resolution bathymetry to determine warm water routing to the grounding zone and, ultimately, for predicting glacier retreat behaviour. Text Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Iceberg* Sea ice Thwaites Glacier Thwaites Ice Shelf Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Amundsen Sea Antarctic Thwaites Glacier ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
The geometry of the sea floor beyond Thwaites Glacier (TG) is a major control on the routing of warm ocean waters towards the ice stream’s grounding zone, which has led to increased mass loss through sub-ice-shelf melting and resulting accelerated ice flow. Nearshore topographic highs act as pinning points for the Thwaites Ice Shelf and potentially provide barriers to warm water incursions. To date, few vessels have been able to access this area due to persistent sea-ice and iceberg cover. This critical data gap was addressed in 2019 during the first cruise of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) project, with more than 2000 km 2 of new multibeam echo-sounder data (MBES) were acquired offshore TG. Here, these data along with legacy MBES datasets are compiled to produce a set of standalone bathymetric grids for the inner Amundsen Sea shelf beyond both Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. At TG, the bathymetry is dominated by a > 1200 m deep, structurally-controlled trough and discontinuous ridge, on which the Eastern Ice Shelf is pinned. The geometry and composition of the ridge varies spatially with some parts having distinctive flat-topped morphologies produced as their tops were planed-off by erosion at the base of the seaward-moving Thwaites Ice Shelf, suggesting a positive feedback mechanism for ice-shelf ungrounding. Knowing that this offshore area is a former bed for TG, we applied a novel spectral approach to investigate bed roughness and find that derived power spectra can be approximated using an inverse-square law, a result that is consistent with spectra for bed profiles from the modern TG. Using existing ice-flow theory, we also make a first assessment of the form drag (basal drag contribution) for ice flow over this topography. Ice flowing over the sea-floor troughs and ridges would have been affected by similarly high basal drag to that acting in the grounding zone today. We show that the sea-floor bathymetry is an analogue for extant bed areas of TG and that more can be gleaned from these 3D bathymetric datasets regarding the likely spatial variability of bed roughness and bed composition types underneath TG. Comparisons with existing regional bathymetric compilations for the area show that high-frequency (finer than 5 km) bathymetric variability beyond Antarctic ice shelves can only be resolved by observations such as MBES and that without these data calculations of the capacity of bathymetric troughs, and thus oceanic heat flux, may be significantly underestimated. This work meets the requirements of recent numerical ice-sheet and ocean modelling studies that have recognised the need for accurate and high-resolution bathymetry to determine warm water routing to the grounding zone and, ultimately, for predicting glacier retreat behaviour. |
format |
Text |
author |
Hogan, Kelly A. Larter, Robert D. Graham, Alastair G. C. Arthern, Robert Kirkham, James D. Totten Minzoni, Rebecca Jordan, Tom A. Clark, Rachel Fitzgerald, Victoria Anderson, John B. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Nitsche, Frank O. Simkins, Lauren Smith, James A. Gohl, Karsten Arndt, Jan Erik Hong, Jongkuk Wellner, Julia |
spellingShingle |
Hogan, Kelly A. Larter, Robert D. Graham, Alastair G. C. Arthern, Robert Kirkham, James D. Totten Minzoni, Rebecca Jordan, Tom A. Clark, Rachel Fitzgerald, Victoria Anderson, John B. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Nitsche, Frank O. Simkins, Lauren Smith, James A. Gohl, Karsten Arndt, Jan Erik Hong, Jongkuk Wellner, Julia Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry |
author_facet |
Hogan, Kelly A. Larter, Robert D. Graham, Alastair G. C. Arthern, Robert Kirkham, James D. Totten Minzoni, Rebecca Jordan, Tom A. Clark, Rachel Fitzgerald, Victoria Anderson, John B. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Nitsche, Frank O. Simkins, Lauren Smith, James A. Gohl, Karsten Arndt, Jan Erik Hong, Jongkuk Wellner, Julia |
author_sort |
Hogan, Kelly A. |
title |
Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry |
title_short |
Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry |
title_full |
Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry |
title_fullStr |
Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry |
title_full_unstemmed |
Revealing the former bed of Thwaites Glacier using sea-floor bathymetry |
title_sort |
revealing the former bed of thwaites glacier using sea-floor bathymetry |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-25 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-25/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) |
geographic |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Thwaites Glacier |
geographic_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Thwaites Glacier |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Iceberg* Sea ice Thwaites Glacier Thwaites Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Iceberg* Sea ice Thwaites Glacier Thwaites Ice Shelf |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-2020-25 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-25/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-25 |
_version_ |
1766378817318813696 |