Ice Cover, Subglacial Landscape, and Estimation of Bottom Melting of Mac. Robertson, Princess Elizabeth, Wilhelm II, and Western Queen Mary Lands, East Antarctica

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Author: Sergey Popov
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
• Subjects: East Antarctica; radio-echo sounding; glaciology; subglacial landscape; bottom melting; Grove Mountains; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14010241

This study demonstrates the results of Russian airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) investigations and also seismic reflection soundings carried out in 1971–2020 over a vast area of coastal part of East Antarctica. It is the first comprehensive summary mapping of these data. Field research, equipment, errors of initial RES data, and methods of gridding are discussed. Ice thickness, ice base elevation, and bedrock topography are presented. The ice thickness across the research area varies from a few meters to 3620 m, and is greatest in the local subglacial depressions. The average thickness is about 1220 m. The total volume of the ice is about 710,500 km3. The bedrock heights vary from 2860 m below sea level in the ocean bathyal zone to 2040 m above sea level in the Grove Mountains area (4900 m relief). The main directions of the bedrock orographic forms are concentrated mostly in three intervals: 345∘–30∘, 45∘–70∘, and 70∘–100∘. The bottom melting rate was estimated on the basis of the simple Zotikov model. Total annual melting under the study area is about 0.633 cubic meters. The total annual melting in the study area is approximately 1.5 mm/yr.