Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea
Ice tongues at the fringes of the Antarctic ice sheet lose mass primarily through both basal melting and calving. They are sensitive to ocean conditions which can weaken the ice both mechanically or through thinning. Ice tongues, which are laterally unconfined, are likely to be particularly sensitiv...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f8db67f46886455991fdd69265135ce2 2023-05-15T14:12:21+02:00 Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea Rodrigo Gomez-Fell Oliver J. Marsh Wolfgang Rack Christian T. Wild Heather Purdie 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1057761 https://doaj.org/article/f8db67f46886455991fdd69265135ce2 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1057761/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2023.1057761 https://doaj.org/article/f8db67f46886455991fdd69265135ce2 Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 11 (2023) Antarctica Ross Sea ice tongue melt rate mass balance ICESat-2 Science Q article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1057761 2023-03-26T01:31:15Z Ice tongues at the fringes of the Antarctic ice sheet lose mass primarily through both basal melting and calving. They are sensitive to ocean conditions which can weaken the ice both mechanically or through thinning. Ice tongues, which are laterally unconfined, are likely to be particularly sensitive to ocean-induced stresses. Here we examine ice tongues in the Western Ross Sea, by looking into the factors affecting their stability. We calculate the basal mass change of twelve Antarctic ice tongues using a flux gate approach, deriving thickness from ICESat-2 height measurements and ice surface velocities from Sentinel-1 feature-tracking over the same period (October 2018 to December 2021). The basal mass balance ranges between −0.14 ± 0.07 m yr−1 and −1.50 ± 1.2 m yr−1. The average basal mass change for all the ice tongues is −0.82 ± 0.68 m of ice yr−1. Low values of basal melt suggest a stable mass balance condition in this region, with low thermal ocean forcing, as other studies have shown. We found a heterogeneous basal melt pattern with no latitudinal gradient and no clear driver in basal melt indicating that local variables are important in the persistence of ice tongues in the absence of a strong oceanographic melting force. Moreover, thanks to the temporal resolution of the data we were able to resolve the seasonal variability of Drygalski and Aviator Ice Tongues, the two largest ice tongues studied. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ross Sea Sea ice Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic Ross Sea Drygalski ENVELOPE(-61.000,-61.000,-64.717,-64.717) Frontiers in Earth Science 11 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctica Ross Sea ice tongue melt rate mass balance ICESat-2 Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Antarctica Ross Sea ice tongue melt rate mass balance ICESat-2 Science Q Rodrigo Gomez-Fell Oliver J. Marsh Wolfgang Rack Christian T. Wild Heather Purdie Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea |
topic_facet |
Antarctica Ross Sea ice tongue melt rate mass balance ICESat-2 Science Q |
description |
Ice tongues at the fringes of the Antarctic ice sheet lose mass primarily through both basal melting and calving. They are sensitive to ocean conditions which can weaken the ice both mechanically or through thinning. Ice tongues, which are laterally unconfined, are likely to be particularly sensitive to ocean-induced stresses. Here we examine ice tongues in the Western Ross Sea, by looking into the factors affecting their stability. We calculate the basal mass change of twelve Antarctic ice tongues using a flux gate approach, deriving thickness from ICESat-2 height measurements and ice surface velocities from Sentinel-1 feature-tracking over the same period (October 2018 to December 2021). The basal mass balance ranges between −0.14 ± 0.07 m yr−1 and −1.50 ± 1.2 m yr−1. The average basal mass change for all the ice tongues is −0.82 ± 0.68 m of ice yr−1. Low values of basal melt suggest a stable mass balance condition in this region, with low thermal ocean forcing, as other studies have shown. We found a heterogeneous basal melt pattern with no latitudinal gradient and no clear driver in basal melt indicating that local variables are important in the persistence of ice tongues in the absence of a strong oceanographic melting force. Moreover, thanks to the temporal resolution of the data we were able to resolve the seasonal variability of Drygalski and Aviator Ice Tongues, the two largest ice tongues studied. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rodrigo Gomez-Fell Oliver J. Marsh Wolfgang Rack Christian T. Wild Heather Purdie |
author_facet |
Rodrigo Gomez-Fell Oliver J. Marsh Wolfgang Rack Christian T. Wild Heather Purdie |
author_sort |
Rodrigo Gomez-Fell |
title |
Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea |
title_short |
Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea |
title_full |
Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea |
title_fullStr |
Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea |
title_sort |
basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the western ross sea |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1057761 https://doaj.org/article/f8db67f46886455991fdd69265135ce2 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-61.000,-61.000,-64.717,-64.717) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Ross Sea Drygalski |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Ross Sea Drygalski |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ross Sea Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ross Sea Sea ice |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 11 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1057761/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2023.1057761 https://doaj.org/article/f8db67f46886455991fdd69265135ce2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1057761 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
11 |
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1766284651217813504 |