Ice Shelf Basal Melt Rates in the Amundsen Sea at the End of the 21st Century

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Jourdain, Nicolas, C, Mathiot, Pierre, Burgard, Clara, Caillet, Justine, Kittel, Christoph
• Other Authors: Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Amundsen Sea; Antarc*; Antarctic; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Iceberg*; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03874414; https://hal.science/hal-03874414/document; https://hal.science/hal-03874414/file/jourdain_GRL_2022.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl100629

International audience Antarctic Ice Sheet projections show the highest sensitivity to increased basal melting in the Amundsen Sea. However, little is known about the processes that control future increase in melt rates. We build an ensemble of three ocean–sea-ice–ice-shelf simulations for both the recent decades and the late 21st century, constrained by regional atmosphere simulations and the multi-model mean climate change of the fifth Climate Model Intercomparison Project under the RCP8.5 scenario. The ice-shelf melt rates are typically multiplied by 1.4–2.2 from present day to future, for a total basal mass loss increased by 346 Gt yr−1 on average. This is equally explained by advection of warmer water from remote locations and regional changes in Ekman downwelling and in the ice-shelf melt-induced circulation, while increased iceberg melt plays no significant role. Our simulations suggest that high-end melt projections previously used to constrain recent sea level projections may have been significantly overestimated.