Changes in the morphology, mass balance, and dynamics of Brown Glacier, Heard Island, with comparison to the surrounding sub-Antarctic islands ...

• Main Author: Donoghue, SL
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Brown Glacier; Heard Island; Indian; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23233313; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Changes_in_the_morphology_mass_balance_and_dynamics_of_Brown_Glacier_Heard_Island_with_comparison_to_the_surrounding_sub-Antarctic_islands/23233313

Heard Island is located in one of the more isolated regions of the southern Indian Ocean at 53°06' S 73°30 E. There are 29 glacerised basins on Heard Island, which cover 70% of this 367 km2 island. Changes in the positions of Heard Island's glaciers, and by inference, changes in the region's climate, have been recorded only intermittently since the establishment of the first Australian base in 1947. In the 1950s the majority of these glaciers were stable or slightly thinning until a marked retreat began in the early 1960s. The retreat from the 1960s has continued through the last recorded observation in 2004. As of 1997, the glaciers on Heard Island had a total area of 257 km2 and an estimated volume of 14.2 km3. The limited climate records for the southern Indian Ocean have shown that there has been a +0.9° C (or +1.7° C 100a-1) change in temperature on Heard Island between 1947 and 2006, with similar increases in temperatures on the other sub-Antarctic islands (e. g., +2.7° C 100a-1 at ...