Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse
Since the 1970s, the sudden, rapid collapse of 20% of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula has led to large-scale thinning and acceleration of its tributary glaciers. The leading hypothesis for the collapse of most of these ice shelves is the process of hydrofracturing, whereby a water-filled crev...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:504755 2023-05-15T13:48:08+02:00 Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse Kuipers Munneke, Peter Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Van den Broeke, Michiel R. Vaughan, David G. 2014-01 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504755/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504755/1/t13J183.pdf https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183 en eng https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504755/1/t13J183.pdf Kuipers Munneke, Peter; Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M.; Van den Broeke, Michiel R.; Vaughan, David G. orcid:0000-0002-9065-0570 . 2014 Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse. Journal of Glaciology, 60 (220). 205-214. https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183 <https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183> cc_by CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2014 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183 2023-02-04T19:38:34Z Since the 1970s, the sudden, rapid collapse of 20% of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula has led to large-scale thinning and acceleration of its tributary glaciers. The leading hypothesis for the collapse of most of these ice shelves is the process of hydrofracturing, whereby a water-filled crevasse is opened by the hydrostatic pressure acting at the crevasse tip. This process has been linked to observed atmospheric warming through the increased supply of meltwater. Importantly, the low-density firn layer near the ice-shelf surface, providing a porous medium in which meltwater can percolate and refreeze, has to be filled in with refrozen meltwater first, before hydrofracturing can occur at all. Here we build upon this notion of firn air depletion as a precursor of ice-shelf collapse, by using a firn model to show that pore space was depleted in the firn layer on former ice shelves, which enabled their collapse due to hydrofracturing. Two climate scenario runs with the same model indicate that during the 21st century most Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves, and some minor ice shelves elsewhere, are more likely to become susceptible to collapse following firn air depletion. If warming continues into the 22nd century, similar depletion will become widespread on ice shelves around East Antarctica. Our model further suggests that a projected increase in snowfall will protect the Ross and Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelves from hydrofracturing in the coming two centuries Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula East Antarctica Journal of Glaciology 60 220 205 214 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Since the 1970s, the sudden, rapid collapse of 20% of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula has led to large-scale thinning and acceleration of its tributary glaciers. The leading hypothesis for the collapse of most of these ice shelves is the process of hydrofracturing, whereby a water-filled crevasse is opened by the hydrostatic pressure acting at the crevasse tip. This process has been linked to observed atmospheric warming through the increased supply of meltwater. Importantly, the low-density firn layer near the ice-shelf surface, providing a porous medium in which meltwater can percolate and refreeze, has to be filled in with refrozen meltwater first, before hydrofracturing can occur at all. Here we build upon this notion of firn air depletion as a precursor of ice-shelf collapse, by using a firn model to show that pore space was depleted in the firn layer on former ice shelves, which enabled their collapse due to hydrofracturing. Two climate scenario runs with the same model indicate that during the 21st century most Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves, and some minor ice shelves elsewhere, are more likely to become susceptible to collapse following firn air depletion. If warming continues into the 22nd century, similar depletion will become widespread on ice shelves around East Antarctica. Our model further suggests that a projected increase in snowfall will protect the Ross and Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelves from hydrofracturing in the coming two centuries |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kuipers Munneke, Peter Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Van den Broeke, Michiel R. Vaughan, David G. |
spellingShingle |
Kuipers Munneke, Peter Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Van den Broeke, Michiel R. Vaughan, David G. Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse |
author_facet |
Kuipers Munneke, Peter Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M. Van den Broeke, Michiel R. Vaughan, David G. |
author_sort |
Kuipers Munneke, Peter |
title |
Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse |
title_short |
Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse |
title_full |
Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse |
title_fullStr |
Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse |
title_full_unstemmed |
Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse |
title_sort |
firn air depletion as a precursor of antarctic ice-shelf collapse |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504755/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504755/1/t13J183.pdf https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula East Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula East Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504755/1/t13J183.pdf Kuipers Munneke, Peter; Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M.; Van den Broeke, Michiel R.; Vaughan, David G. orcid:0000-0002-9065-0570 . 2014 Firn air depletion as a precursor of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse. Journal of Glaciology, 60 (220). 205-214. https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183 <https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183> |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J183 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
220 |
container_start_page |
205 |
op_container_end_page |
214 |
_version_ |
1766248738097987584 |