Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the world's regions most affected by climate change. Several ice shelves have retreated, thinned or completely disintegrated during recent decades, leading to acceleration and increased calving of their tributary glaciers. Wordie Ice Shelf, located in Marguerit...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:77e003363db24139930c7708e500ed9c 2023-05-15T13:41:31+02:00 Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula P. Friedl T. C. Seehaus A. Wendt M. H. Braun K. Höppner 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1347-2018 https://doaj.org/article/77e003363db24139930c7708e500ed9c EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1347/2018/tc-12-1347-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-12-1347-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/77e003363db24139930c7708e500ed9c The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 1347-1365 (2018) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1347-2018 2022-12-31T02:24:48Z The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the world's regions most affected by climate change. Several ice shelves have retreated, thinned or completely disintegrated during recent decades, leading to acceleration and increased calving of their tributary glaciers. Wordie Ice Shelf, located in Marguerite Bay at the south-western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, completely disintegrated in a series of events between the 1960s and the late 1990s. We investigate the long-term dynamics (1994–2016) of Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf by analysing various multi-sensor remote sensing data sets. We present a dense time series of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) surface velocities that reveals a rapid acceleration of Fleming Glacier in 2008 and a phase of further gradual acceleration and upstream propagation of high velocities in 2010–2011.The timing in acceleration correlates with strong upwelling events of warm circumpolar deep water (CDW) into Wordie Bay, most likely leading to increased submarine melt. This, together with continuous dynamic thinning and a deep subglacial trough with a retrograde bed slope close to the terminus probably, has induced unpinning of the glacier tongue in 2008 and gradual grounding line retreat between 2010 and 2011. Our data suggest that the glacier's grounding line had retreated by ∼ 6–9 km between 1996 and 2011, which caused ∼ 56 km 2 of the glacier tongue to go afloat. The resulting reduction in buttressing explains a median speedup of ∼ 1.3 m d −1 ( ∼ 27 %) between 2008 and 2011, which we observed along a centre line extending between the grounding line in 1996 and ∼ 16 km upstream. Current median ice thinning rates (2011–2014) along profiles in areas below 1000 m altitude range between ∼ 2.6 to 3.2 m a −1 and are ∼ 70 % higher than between 2004 and 2008. Our study shows that Fleming Glacier is far away from approaching a new equilibrium and that the glacier dynamics are not primarily controlled by the loss of the former ice shelf anymore. Currently, the tongue of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf Ice Shelves The Cryosphere Wordie Bay Wordie Ice Shelf Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Marguerite ENVELOPE(141.378,141.378,-66.787,-66.787) Marguerite Bay ENVELOPE(-68.000,-68.000,-68.500,-68.500) Wordie ENVELOPE(-67.500,-67.500,-69.167,-69.167) Wordie Ice Shelf ENVELOPE(-67.750,-67.750,-69.250,-69.250) Fleming Glacier ENVELOPE(-66.183,-66.183,-69.467,-69.467) Wordie Bay ENVELOPE(-67.750,-67.750,-69.116,-69.116) The Cryosphere 12 4 1347 1365 |
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 P. Friedl T. C. Seehaus A. Wendt M. H. Braun K. Höppner Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the world's regions most affected by climate change. Several ice shelves have retreated, thinned or completely disintegrated during recent decades, leading to acceleration and increased calving of their tributary glaciers. Wordie Ice Shelf, located in Marguerite Bay at the south-western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, completely disintegrated in a series of events between the 1960s and the late 1990s. We investigate the long-term dynamics (1994–2016) of Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf by analysing various multi-sensor remote sensing data sets. We present a dense time series of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) surface velocities that reveals a rapid acceleration of Fleming Glacier in 2008 and a phase of further gradual acceleration and upstream propagation of high velocities in 2010–2011.The timing in acceleration correlates with strong upwelling events of warm circumpolar deep water (CDW) into Wordie Bay, most likely leading to increased submarine melt. This, together with continuous dynamic thinning and a deep subglacial trough with a retrograde bed slope close to the terminus probably, has induced unpinning of the glacier tongue in 2008 and gradual grounding line retreat between 2010 and 2011. Our data suggest that the glacier's grounding line had retreated by ∼ 6–9 km between 1996 and 2011, which caused ∼ 56 km 2 of the glacier tongue to go afloat. The resulting reduction in buttressing explains a median speedup of ∼ 1.3 m d −1 ( ∼ 27 %) between 2008 and 2011, which we observed along a centre line extending between the grounding line in 1996 and ∼ 16 km upstream. Current median ice thinning rates (2011–2014) along profiles in areas below 1000 m altitude range between ∼ 2.6 to 3.2 m a −1 and are ∼ 70 % higher than between 2004 and 2008. Our study shows that Fleming Glacier is far away from approaching a new equilibrium and that the glacier dynamics are not primarily controlled by the loss of the former ice shelf anymore. Currently, the tongue of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
P. Friedl T. C. Seehaus A. Wendt M. H. Braun K. Höppner |
author_facet |
P. Friedl T. C. Seehaus A. Wendt M. H. Braun K. Höppner |
author_sort |
P. Friedl |
title |
Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_short |
Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full |
Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_fullStr |
Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent dynamic changes on Fleming Glacier after the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula |
title_sort |
recent dynamic changes on fleming glacier after the disintegration of wordie ice shelf, antarctic peninsula |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1347-2018 https://doaj.org/article/77e003363db24139930c7708e500ed9c |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(141.378,141.378,-66.787,-66.787) ENVELOPE(-68.000,-68.000,-68.500,-68.500) ENVELOPE(-67.500,-67.500,-69.167,-69.167) ENVELOPE(-67.750,-67.750,-69.250,-69.250) ENVELOPE(-66.183,-66.183,-69.467,-69.467) ENVELOPE(-67.750,-67.750,-69.116,-69.116) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Marguerite Marguerite Bay Wordie Wordie Ice Shelf Fleming Glacier Wordie Bay |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Marguerite Marguerite Bay Wordie Wordie Ice Shelf Fleming Glacier Wordie Bay |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf Ice Shelves The Cryosphere Wordie Bay Wordie Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelf Ice Shelves The Cryosphere Wordie Bay Wordie Ice Shelf |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 1347-1365 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1347/2018/tc-12-1347-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-12-1347-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/77e003363db24139930c7708e500ed9c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1347-2018 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1347 |
op_container_end_page |
1365 |
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1766151693796376576 |