Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades
The safety band of Antarctica, consisting of floating glacier tongues and ice shelves, buttresses ice discharge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent disintegration events of ice shelves along with glacier retreat indicate a weakening of this important safety band. Predicting calving front retreat is a...
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Online Access: | https://elib.dlr.de/142349/ https://elib.dlr.de/142349/1/Baumhoer%20et%20al.%202021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2357/2021/ |
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ftdlr:oai:elib.dlr.de:142349 2024-01-14T10:02:24+01:00 Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades Baumhoer, Celia Dietz, Andreas Kneisel, Christoph Paeth, Heiko Künzer, Claudia 2021-05-20 application/pdf https://elib.dlr.de/142349/ https://elib.dlr.de/142349/1/Baumhoer%20et%20al.%202021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2357/2021/ en eng Copernicus Publications https://elib.dlr.de/142349/1/Baumhoer%20et%20al.%202021.pdf Baumhoer, Celia und Dietz, Andreas und Kneisel, Christoph und Paeth, Heiko und Künzer, Claudia (2021) Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades. The Cryosphere, 15, Seiten 2357-2381. Copernicus Publications. doi:10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 <https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021>. ISSN 1994-0416. cc_by Dynamik der Landoberfläche Zeitschriftenbeitrag PeerReviewed 2021 ftdlr https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 2023-12-18T00:23:56Z The safety band of Antarctica, consisting of floating glacier tongues and ice shelves, buttresses ice discharge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent disintegration events of ice shelves along with glacier retreat indicate a weakening of this important safety band. Predicting calving front retreat is a real challenge due to complex ice dynamics in a data-scarce environment that are unique for each ice shelf and glacier. We explore the extent to which easy-to-access remote sensing and modeling data can help to define environmental conditions leading to calving front retreat. For the first time, we present a circum-Antarctic record of glacier and ice shelf front change over the last two decades in combination with environmental variables such as air temperature, sea ice days, snowmelt, sea surface temperature, and wind direction. We find that the Antarctic Ice Sheet area decreased by −29 618 ± 1193 km2 in extent between 1997–2008 and gained an area of 7108 ± 1029 km2 between 2009 and 2018. Retreat concentrated along the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica including the biggest ice shelves (Ross and Ronne). In several cases, glacier and ice shelf retreat occurred in conjunction with one or several changes in environmental variables. Decreasing sea ice days, intense snowmelt, weakening easterlies, and relative changes in sea surface temperature were identified as enabling factors for retreat. In contrast, relative increases in mean air temperature did not correlate with calving front retreat. For future studies a more appropriate measure for atmospheric forcing should be considered, including above-zero-degree days and temperature extreme events. To better understand drivers of glacier and ice shelf retreat, it is critical to analyze the magnitude of basal melt through the intrusion of warm Circumpolar Deep Water that is driven by strengthening westerlies and to further assess surface hydrology processes such as meltwater ponding, runoff, and lake drainage. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice The Cryosphere West Antarctica German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica The Cryosphere 15 5 2357 2381 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library |
op_collection_id |
ftdlr |
language |
English |
topic |
Dynamik der Landoberfläche |
spellingShingle |
Dynamik der Landoberfläche Baumhoer, Celia Dietz, Andreas Kneisel, Christoph Paeth, Heiko Künzer, Claudia Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
topic_facet |
Dynamik der Landoberfläche |
description |
The safety band of Antarctica, consisting of floating glacier tongues and ice shelves, buttresses ice discharge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent disintegration events of ice shelves along with glacier retreat indicate a weakening of this important safety band. Predicting calving front retreat is a real challenge due to complex ice dynamics in a data-scarce environment that are unique for each ice shelf and glacier. We explore the extent to which easy-to-access remote sensing and modeling data can help to define environmental conditions leading to calving front retreat. For the first time, we present a circum-Antarctic record of glacier and ice shelf front change over the last two decades in combination with environmental variables such as air temperature, sea ice days, snowmelt, sea surface temperature, and wind direction. We find that the Antarctic Ice Sheet area decreased by −29 618 ± 1193 km2 in extent between 1997–2008 and gained an area of 7108 ± 1029 km2 between 2009 and 2018. Retreat concentrated along the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica including the biggest ice shelves (Ross and Ronne). In several cases, glacier and ice shelf retreat occurred in conjunction with one or several changes in environmental variables. Decreasing sea ice days, intense snowmelt, weakening easterlies, and relative changes in sea surface temperature were identified as enabling factors for retreat. In contrast, relative increases in mean air temperature did not correlate with calving front retreat. For future studies a more appropriate measure for atmospheric forcing should be considered, including above-zero-degree days and temperature extreme events. To better understand drivers of glacier and ice shelf retreat, it is critical to analyze the magnitude of basal melt through the intrusion of warm Circumpolar Deep Water that is driven by strengthening westerlies and to further assess surface hydrology processes such as meltwater ponding, runoff, and lake drainage. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Baumhoer, Celia Dietz, Andreas Kneisel, Christoph Paeth, Heiko Künzer, Claudia |
author_facet |
Baumhoer, Celia Dietz, Andreas Kneisel, Christoph Paeth, Heiko Künzer, Claudia |
author_sort |
Baumhoer, Celia |
title |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_short |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_full |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_fullStr |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
title_sort |
environmental drivers of circum-antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://elib.dlr.de/142349/ https://elib.dlr.de/142349/1/Baumhoer%20et%20al.%202021.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2357/2021/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
op_relation |
https://elib.dlr.de/142349/1/Baumhoer%20et%20al.%202021.pdf Baumhoer, Celia und Dietz, Andreas und Kneisel, Christoph und Paeth, Heiko und Künzer, Claudia (2021) Environmental drivers of circum-Antarctic glacier and ice shelf front retreat over the last two decades. The Cryosphere, 15, Seiten 2357-2381. Copernicus Publications. doi:10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 <https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021>. ISSN 1994-0416. |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2357-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2357 |
op_container_end_page |
2381 |
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1788057390813282304 |