The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica
Floating ice shelves, which fringe most of Antarctica’s coastline, regulate ice flow into the Southern Ocean1,2,3. Their thinning4,5,6,7 or disintegration8,9 can cause upstream acceleration of grounded ice and raise global sea levels. So far the effect has not been quantified in a comprehensive and...
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/518976/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:518976 2024-01-07T09:39:52+01:00 The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica Reese, R. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar Levermann, A. Winkelmann, R. 2018-01 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/518976/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x unknown Macmillan Publishers Ltd Reese, R.; Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar orcid:0000-0003-4236-5369 Levermann, A.; Winkelmann, R. 2018 The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica. Nature Climate Change, 8 (1). 53-57. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x 2023-12-08T00:03:07Z Floating ice shelves, which fringe most of Antarctica’s coastline, regulate ice flow into the Southern Ocean1,2,3. Their thinning4,5,6,7 or disintegration8,9 can cause upstream acceleration of grounded ice and raise global sea levels. So far the effect has not been quantified in a comprehensive and spatially explicit manner. Here, using a finite-element model, we diagnose the immediate, continent-wide flux response to different spatial patterns of ice-shelf mass loss. We show that highly localized ice-shelf thinning can reach across the entire shelf and accelerate ice flow in regions far from the initial perturbation. As an example, this ‘tele-buttressing’ enhances outflow from Bindschadler Ice Stream in response to thinning near Ross Island more than 900 km away. We further find that the integrated flux response across all grounding lines is highly dependent on the location of imposed changes: the strongest response is caused not only near ice streams and ice rises, but also by thinning, for instance, well-within the Filchner–Ronne and Ross Ice Shelves. The most critical regions in all major ice shelves are often located in regions easily accessible to the intrusion of warm ocean waters10,11,12, stressing Antarctica’s vulnerability to changes in its surrounding ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Bindschadler Ice Stream Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Island Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Bindschadler Ice Stream ENVELOPE(-142.000,-142.000,-81.000,-81.000) Ross Island Nature Climate Change 8 1 53 57 |
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Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
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description |
Floating ice shelves, which fringe most of Antarctica’s coastline, regulate ice flow into the Southern Ocean1,2,3. Their thinning4,5,6,7 or disintegration8,9 can cause upstream acceleration of grounded ice and raise global sea levels. So far the effect has not been quantified in a comprehensive and spatially explicit manner. Here, using a finite-element model, we diagnose the immediate, continent-wide flux response to different spatial patterns of ice-shelf mass loss. We show that highly localized ice-shelf thinning can reach across the entire shelf and accelerate ice flow in regions far from the initial perturbation. As an example, this ‘tele-buttressing’ enhances outflow from Bindschadler Ice Stream in response to thinning near Ross Island more than 900 km away. We further find that the integrated flux response across all grounding lines is highly dependent on the location of imposed changes: the strongest response is caused not only near ice streams and ice rises, but also by thinning, for instance, well-within the Filchner–Ronne and Ross Ice Shelves. The most critical regions in all major ice shelves are often located in regions easily accessible to the intrusion of warm ocean waters10,11,12, stressing Antarctica’s vulnerability to changes in its surrounding ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reese, R. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar Levermann, A. Winkelmann, R. |
spellingShingle |
Reese, R. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar Levermann, A. Winkelmann, R. The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica |
author_facet |
Reese, R. Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar Levermann, A. Winkelmann, R. |
author_sort |
Reese, R. |
title |
The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica |
title_short |
The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica |
title_full |
The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica |
title_sort |
far reach of ice-shelf thinning in antarctica |
publisher |
Macmillan Publishers Ltd |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/518976/ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-142.000,-142.000,-81.000,-81.000) |
geographic |
Bindschadler Ice Stream Ross Island |
geographic_facet |
Bindschadler Ice Stream Ross Island |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Bindschadler Ice Stream Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Bindschadler Ice Stream Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Island |
op_relation |
Reese, R.; Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar orcid:0000-0003-4236-5369 Levermann, A.; Winkelmann, R. 2018 The far reach of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica. Nature Climate Change, 8 (1). 53-57. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0020-x |
container_title |
Nature Climate Change |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
53 |
op_container_end_page |
57 |
_version_ |
1787430138728677376 |