Basal Water Storage Variations beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet
Antarctic basal water storage variations (BWSV) contain basal water migrations and basal melting. Identifying these variations are critical to understand the behaviour of ice sheet, yet it is rarely accessible to direct observation. We presented a layered gravity density forward/inversion method for...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-17 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2021-17/ |
| Summary: | Antarctic basal water storage variations (BWSV) contain basal water migrations and basal melting. Identifying these variations are critical to understand the behaviour of ice sheet, yet it is rarely accessible to direct observation. We presented a layered gravity density forward/inversion method for constructing Antarctic basal mass balance (BMB) estimates from multisource satellite observation data, and evaluated BWSV based on basal melting rate. As an example, spatial annual BWSV trend during 2003–2009 are estimated. Results reveal spatial variability of BWSV, with the rate of 46.3 Gt/y. Similar spatial distribution between basal water increases regions and locations of active subglacial lakes indicates that basal water storage in most active subglacial lakes are increasing. Comparison of spatial BWSV and ice surface velocity display a positive correlation between considerable basal water decreases and rapid ice flows, however, exceptions are when the massive rapid ice flows connected to huge ice shelves that hold up by surrounding terrains, that slows down the basal water discharge outward. |
|---|