Derivation of bedrock topography measurement requirements for the reduction of uncertainty in ice-sheet model projections of Thwaites Glacier

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: B. A. Castleman, N.-J. Schlegel, L. Caron, E. Larour, A. Khazendar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Thwaites Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-761-2022; https://doaj.org/article/5fac0523654c455a91764f3ec85d1607

Determining the future evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is critical for understanding and narrowing the large existing uncertainties in century-scale global mean sea-level-rise (SLR) projections. One of the most significant glaciers and ice streams in Antarctica, Thwaites Glacier, is at risk of destabilization and, if destabilized, has the potential to be the largest regional-scale contributor of SLR on Earth. This is because Thwaites Glacier is vulnerable to the marine ice-sheet instability as its grounding line is significantly influenced by ocean-driven basal melting rates, and its bedrock topography retrogrades into kilometer-deep troughs. In this study, we investigate how bedrock topography features influence the grounding line migration beneath Thwaites Glacier when extreme ocean-driven basal melt rates are applied. Specifically, we design experiments using the Ice-sheet and Sea-level System Model (ISSM) to quantify the SLR projection uncertainty due to reported errors in the current bedrock topography maps that are often used by ice-sheet models. We find that spread in model estimates of sea-level-rise contribution from Thwaites Glacier due to the reported bedrock topography error could be as large as 21.9 cm after 200 years of extreme ocean warming. Next, we perturb the bedrock topography beneath Thwaites Glacier using wavelet decomposition techniques to introduce realistic noise (within error). We explore the model space with multiple realizations of noise to quantify what spatial and vertical resolutions in bedrock topography are required to minimize the uncertainty in our 200-year experiment. We conclude that at least a 2 km spatial and 8 m vertical resolution would independently constrain possible SLR to ±2 cm over 200 years, fulfilling requirements outlined by the 2017 Decadal Survey for Earth Science. Lastly, we perform an ensemble of simulations to determine in which regions our model of Thwaites Glacier is most sensitive to perturbations in bedrock topography. Our results suggest that the ...