Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016
Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is among the fastest changing glaciers worldwide. Over the last 2 decades, the glacier has lost in excess of a trillion tons of ice, or the equivalent of 3 mm of sea level rise. The ongoing changes are thought to have been triggered by ocean-induced thinning of...
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2021
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ftleibnizopen:oai:oai.leibnizopen.de:TB6BMYsBBwLIz6xG7Akn 2023-11-12T04:08:16+01:00 Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 De Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar 2021-1-7 application/pdf https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/10580 https://doi.org/10.34657/9616 eng eng Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus CC BY 4.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Cryosphere : TC 15 (2021), Nr. 1 data assimilation floating ice grounding line ice flow ice shelf ice thickness iceberg calving remote sensing rheology sea level viscosity Antarctica Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica 910 article Text 2021 ftleibnizopen https://doi.org/10.34657/9616 2023-10-15T23:18:07Z Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is among the fastest changing glaciers worldwide. Over the last 2 decades, the glacier has lost in excess of a trillion tons of ice, or the equivalent of 3 mm of sea level rise. The ongoing changes are thought to have been triggered by ocean-induced thinning of its floating ice shelf, grounding line retreat, and the associated reduction in buttressing forces. However, other drivers of change, such as large-scale calving and changes in ice rheology and basal slipperiness, could play a vital, yet unquantified, role in controlling the ongoing and future evolution of the glacier. In addition, recent studies have shown that mechanical properties of the bed are key to explaining the observed speed-up. Here we used a combination of the latest remote sensing datasets between 1996 and 2016, data assimilation tools, and numerical perturbation experiments to quantify the relative importance of all processes in driving the recent changes in Pine Island Glacier dynamics. We show that (1) calving and ice shelf thinning have caused a comparable reduction in ice shelf buttressing over the past 2 decades; that (2) simulated changes in ice flow over a viscously deforming bed are only compatible with observations if large and widespread changes in ice viscosity and/or basal slipperiness are taken into account; and that (3) a spatially varying, predominantly plastic bed rheology can closely reproduce observed changes in flow without marked variations in ice-internal and basal properties. Our results demonstrate that, in addition to its evolving ice thickness, calving processes and a heterogeneous bed rheology play a key role in the contemporary evolution of Pine Island Glacier. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier The Cryosphere West Antarctica Unknown Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) West Antarctica |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
ftleibnizopen |
language |
English |
topic |
data assimilation floating ice grounding line ice flow ice shelf ice thickness iceberg calving remote sensing rheology sea level viscosity Antarctica Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica 910 |
spellingShingle |
data assimilation floating ice grounding line ice flow ice shelf ice thickness iceberg calving remote sensing rheology sea level viscosity Antarctica Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica 910 De Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
topic_facet |
data assimilation floating ice grounding line ice flow ice shelf ice thickness iceberg calving remote sensing rheology sea level viscosity Antarctica Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica 910 |
description |
Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is among the fastest changing glaciers worldwide. Over the last 2 decades, the glacier has lost in excess of a trillion tons of ice, or the equivalent of 3 mm of sea level rise. The ongoing changes are thought to have been triggered by ocean-induced thinning of its floating ice shelf, grounding line retreat, and the associated reduction in buttressing forces. However, other drivers of change, such as large-scale calving and changes in ice rheology and basal slipperiness, could play a vital, yet unquantified, role in controlling the ongoing and future evolution of the glacier. In addition, recent studies have shown that mechanical properties of the bed are key to explaining the observed speed-up. Here we used a combination of the latest remote sensing datasets between 1996 and 2016, data assimilation tools, and numerical perturbation experiments to quantify the relative importance of all processes in driving the recent changes in Pine Island Glacier dynamics. We show that (1) calving and ice shelf thinning have caused a comparable reduction in ice shelf buttressing over the past 2 decades; that (2) simulated changes in ice flow over a viscously deforming bed are only compatible with observations if large and widespread changes in ice viscosity and/or basal slipperiness are taken into account; and that (3) a spatially varying, predominantly plastic bed rheology can closely reproduce observed changes in flow without marked variations in ice-internal and basal properties. Our results demonstrate that, in addition to its evolving ice thickness, calving processes and a heterogeneous bed rheology play a key role in the contemporary evolution of Pine Island Glacier. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
De Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar |
author_facet |
De Rydt, Jan Reese, Ronja Paolo, Fernando S. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar |
author_sort |
De Rydt, Jan |
title |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_short |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_full |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_fullStr |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drivers of Pine Island Glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
title_sort |
drivers of pine island glacier speed-up between 1996 and 2016 |
publisher |
Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/10580 https://doi.org/10.34657/9616 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) |
geographic |
Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
op_source |
The Cryosphere : TC 15 (2021), Nr. 1 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.34657/9616 |
_version_ |
1782328602991263744 |