Seasonal land-ice-flow variability in the Antarctic Peninsula ...

• Main Authors: Boxall, K, Christie, FDW, Willis, IC, Wuite, J, Nagler, T
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus GmbH 2022
• Subjects: 37 Earth Sciences; 3708 Oceanography; 3709 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience; 13 Climate Action; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Austral; Greenland; George VI Ice Shelf; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.88981; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/341556

Abstract. Recent satellite-remote sensing studies have documented the multi-decadal acceleration of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in response to rapid rates of ice-sheet retreat and thinning. Unlike the Greenland Ice Sheet, where historical, high-temporal-resolution satellite and in situ observations have revealed distinct changes in land-ice flow within intra-annual timescales, observations of similar seasonal signals are limited in Antarctica. Here, we use high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution Copernicus Sentinel-1A/B synthetic aperture radar observations acquired between 2014 and 2020 to provide the first evidence for seasonal flow variability of the land ice feeding George VI Ice Shelf (GVIIS), Antarctic Peninsula. Our observations reveal a distinct austral summertime (December–February) speed-up of ∼0.06±0.005 m d−1 (∼ 22±1.8 m yr−1) at, and immediately inland of, the grounding line of the glaciers nourishing the ice shelf, which constitutes a mean acceleration of ∼15 % relative to baseline ...