Widening process and seasonal dynamics of the large-scale rift and its mélange in the 2nd largest ice shelf in Antarctica ...

• Main Authors: Lv, Da, Cheng, Yuan, Hai, Gang
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2022
• Subjects: Geophysics physics.geo-ph; FOS Physical sciences; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2201.11480; https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.11480

Rift plays an important role in ice shelf calving event, which forms the boundary of tabular detachments and the acts as precursor for ice shelf calving. Rift mélange shows the resistance to deform during rift propagation, which plays the role as stabilizing the rift. However, the detailed 3D propagation process of the rift, including the dynamics motion of its mélange, is not clearly investigated since then. In this paper, a long time series of 2D propagation rates are generated to provide an overview of all rifts throughout the FRIS, which reveals that the rift T1 and T2 were quite active and will dominate the next calving event. Then, the process of widening of rift T1 is detailed investigated, which is representative for rift propagation process. By utilizing REMA DEMs and ITS_LIVE ice velocity maps, the process of mélange widening and rift wall widening are estimated. The mélange widens linearly in space and rift wall widening is caused by collapse. The processes of mélange height decreasing and mélange ... : The systematic errors between multiple DEMs are not effectively eliminated and the accuracy of the results is not credible ...