Antarctic ice sheet response to sudden and sustained ice-shelf collapse (ABUMIP)

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Sainan Sun, Frank Pattyn, Erika G. Simon, Torsten Albrecht, Stephen Cornford, Reinhard Calov, Christophe Dumas, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Heiko Goelzer, Nicholas R. Golledge, Ralf Greve, Matthew J. Hoffman, Angelika Humbert, Elise Kazmierczak, Thomas Kleiner, Gunter R. Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, Daniel Martin, Mathieu Morlighem, Sophie Nowicki, David Pollard, Stephen Price, Aurélien Quiquet, Hélène Seroussi, Tanja Schlemm, Johannes Sutter, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, Ricarda Winkelmann, Tong Zhang
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2020
• Subjects: Antarctic glaciology; ice-sheet modelling; ice shelves; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Antarctic; East Antarctica; The Antarctic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.67; https://doaj.org/article/ad51d11ae245444fa3b79e2131f3678a

Antarctica's ice shelves modulate the grounded ice flow, and weakening of ice shelves due to climate forcing will decrease their ‘buttressing’ effect, causing a response in the grounded ice. While the processes governing ice-shelf weakening are complex, uncertainties in the response of the grounded ice sheet are also difficult to assess. The Antarctic BUttressing Model Intercomparison Project (ABUMIP) compares ice-sheet model responses to decrease in buttressing by investigating the ‘end-member’ scenario of total and sustained loss of ice shelves. Although unrealistic, this scenario enables gauging the sensitivity of an ensemble of 15 ice-sheet models to a total loss of buttressing, hence exhibiting the full potential of marine ice-sheet instability. All models predict that this scenario leads to multi-metre (1–12 m) sea-level rise over 500 years from present day. West Antarctic ice sheet collapse alone leads to a 1.91–5.08 m sea-level rise due to the marine ice-sheet instability. Mass loss rates are a strong function of the sliding/friction law, with plastic laws cause a further destabilization of the Aurora and Wilkes Subglacial Basins, East Antarctica. Improvements to marine ice-sheet models have greatly reduced variability between modelled ice-sheet responses to extreme ice-shelf loss, e.g. compared to the SeaRISE assessments.