Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling

Ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic perimeter moderate ice discharge towards the ocean through buttressing. Ice-shelf evolution and integrity depend on the local surface accumulation, basal melting and on the spatially variable ice-shelf viscosity. These components of ice-shelf mass balance are of...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: V. Višnjević, R. Drews, C. Schannwell, I. Koch, S. Franke, D. Jansen, O. Eisen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022
https://doaj.org/article/65e3196bbaa54ce0824b414c8587a8d4
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:65e3196bbaa54ce0824b414c8587a8d4 2023-05-15T13:43:08+02:00 Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling V. Višnjević R. Drews C. Schannwell I. Koch S. Franke D. Jansen O. Eisen 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 https://doaj.org/article/65e3196bbaa54ce0824b414c8587a8d4 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4763/2022/tc-16-4763-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/65e3196bbaa54ce0824b414c8587a8d4 The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 4763-4777 (2022) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022 2022-12-30T20:14:47Z Ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic perimeter moderate ice discharge towards the ocean through buttressing. Ice-shelf evolution and integrity depend on the local surface accumulation, basal melting and on the spatially variable ice-shelf viscosity. These components of ice-shelf mass balance are often poorly constrained by observations and introduce uncertainties in ice-sheet projections. Isochronal radar stratigraphy is an observational archive for the atmospheric, oceanographic and ice-flow history of ice shelves. Here, we predict the stratigraphy of locally accumulated ice on ice shelves with a kinematic forward model for a given atmospheric and oceanographic scenario. This delineates the boundary between local meteoric ice (LMI) and continental meteoric ice (CMI). A large LMI to CMI ratio hereby marks ice shelves whose buttressing strength is more sensitive to changes in atmospheric precipitation patterns. A mismatch between the steady-state predictions of the kinematic forward model and observations from radar can highlight inconsistencies in the atmospheric and oceanographic input data or be an indicator for a transient ice-shelf history not accounted for in the model. We discuss pitfalls in numerical diffusion when calculating the age field and validate the kinematic model with the full Stokes ice-flow model Elmer/Ice. The Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (East Antarctica) serves as a test case for this approach. There, we find a significant east–west gradient in the LMI / CMI ratio. The steady-state predictions concur with observations on larger spatial scales ( >10 km), but deviations on smaller scales are significant, e.g., because local surface accumulation patterns near the grounding zone are underestimated in Antarctic-wide estimates. Future studies can use these mismatches to optimize the input data or to pinpoint transient signatures in the ice-shelf history using the ever growing archive of radar observations of internal ice stratigraphy. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic East Antarctica Roi Baudouin ENVELOPE(24.461,24.461,-70.438,-70.438) The Antarctic The Cryosphere 16 11 4763 4777
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
spellingShingle Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
V. Višnjević
R. Drews
C. Schannwell
I. Koch
S. Franke
D. Jansen
O. Eisen
Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
topic_facet Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
description Ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic perimeter moderate ice discharge towards the ocean through buttressing. Ice-shelf evolution and integrity depend on the local surface accumulation, basal melting and on the spatially variable ice-shelf viscosity. These components of ice-shelf mass balance are often poorly constrained by observations and introduce uncertainties in ice-sheet projections. Isochronal radar stratigraphy is an observational archive for the atmospheric, oceanographic and ice-flow history of ice shelves. Here, we predict the stratigraphy of locally accumulated ice on ice shelves with a kinematic forward model for a given atmospheric and oceanographic scenario. This delineates the boundary between local meteoric ice (LMI) and continental meteoric ice (CMI). A large LMI to CMI ratio hereby marks ice shelves whose buttressing strength is more sensitive to changes in atmospheric precipitation patterns. A mismatch between the steady-state predictions of the kinematic forward model and observations from radar can highlight inconsistencies in the atmospheric and oceanographic input data or be an indicator for a transient ice-shelf history not accounted for in the model. We discuss pitfalls in numerical diffusion when calculating the age field and validate the kinematic model with the full Stokes ice-flow model Elmer/Ice. The Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (East Antarctica) serves as a test case for this approach. There, we find a significant east–west gradient in the LMI / CMI ratio. The steady-state predictions concur with observations on larger spatial scales ( >10 km), but deviations on smaller scales are significant, e.g., because local surface accumulation patterns near the grounding zone are underestimated in Antarctic-wide estimates. Future studies can use these mismatches to optimize the input data or to pinpoint transient signatures in the ice-shelf history using the ever growing archive of radar observations of internal ice stratigraphy.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author V. Višnjević
R. Drews
C. Schannwell
I. Koch
S. Franke
D. Jansen
O. Eisen
author_facet V. Višnjević
R. Drews
C. Schannwell
I. Koch
S. Franke
D. Jansen
O. Eisen
author_sort V. Višnjević
title Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
title_short Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
title_full Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
title_fullStr Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
title_full_unstemmed Predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
title_sort predicting the steady-state isochronal stratigraphy of ice shelves using observations and modeling
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2022
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022
https://doaj.org/article/65e3196bbaa54ce0824b414c8587a8d4
long_lat ENVELOPE(24.461,24.461,-70.438,-70.438)
geographic Antarctic
East Antarctica
Roi Baudouin
The Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
East Antarctica
Roi Baudouin
The Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
East Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
The Cryosphere
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
East Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
The Cryosphere
op_source The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 4763-4777 (2022)
op_relation https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4763/2022/tc-16-4763-2022.pdf
https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416
https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424
doi:10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022
1994-0416
1994-0424
https://doaj.org/article/65e3196bbaa54ce0824b414c8587a8d4
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4763-2022
container_title The Cryosphere
container_volume 16
container_issue 11
container_start_page 4763
op_container_end_page 4777
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