Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves?
Land ice discharge from the Antarctic continent into the ocean is restrained by ice shelves, floating extensions of grounded ice that buttress the glacier outflow. The ongoing thinning of these ice shelves – largely due to enhanced melting at their base in response to global warming – is known to ac...
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00064746 2023-05-15T13:49:22+02:00 Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? Poinelli, Mattia Schodlok, Michael Larour, Eric Vizcaino, Miren Riva, Riccardo 2023-01 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-75 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064746 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/egusphere-2023-75/egusphere-2023-75.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-75 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064746 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/egusphere-2023-75/egusphere-2023-75.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess CC-BY article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2023 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-75 2023-02-06T00:14:01Z Land ice discharge from the Antarctic continent into the ocean is restrained by ice shelves, floating extensions of grounded ice that buttress the glacier outflow. The ongoing thinning of these ice shelves – largely due to enhanced melting at their base in response to global warming – is known to accelerate the release of glacier meltwater into the world oceans, augmenting global sea level. Mechanisms of ocean heat intrusion under the ice base are therefore crucial to project the future of Antarctic ice shelves. Furthermore, ice shelves are weakened by the presence of km-wide full-thickness ice rifts, which are observed all around Antarctica. However, their impact on ocean circulation around and below ice shelves has been largely unexplored as ocean models are commonly characterized by resolutions that are too coarse to resolve their presence. Here, we apply the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model at high resolution to investigate the sensitivity of sub-shelf ocean dynamics and ice shelf melting to the presence of a km-wide rift in proximity of the ice front. We find that (a) the rift curtails water and heat intrusion beneath the ice shelf base and (b) basal melting of a rifted ice shelf is on average 20 % lower than for an intact ice shelf under identical forcing. We therefore posit that rifts and their impact in the sub-shelf dynamics are important to consider in order to accurately reproduce and project pathways of heat intrusion into the ice shelf cavity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Antarctic Buttress ENVELOPE(-57.083,-57.083,-63.550,-63.550) The Antarctic |
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Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
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ftnonlinearchiv |
language |
English |
topic |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Poinelli, Mattia Schodlok, Michael Larour, Eric Vizcaino, Miren Riva, Riccardo Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Land ice discharge from the Antarctic continent into the ocean is restrained by ice shelves, floating extensions of grounded ice that buttress the glacier outflow. The ongoing thinning of these ice shelves – largely due to enhanced melting at their base in response to global warming – is known to accelerate the release of glacier meltwater into the world oceans, augmenting global sea level. Mechanisms of ocean heat intrusion under the ice base are therefore crucial to project the future of Antarctic ice shelves. Furthermore, ice shelves are weakened by the presence of km-wide full-thickness ice rifts, which are observed all around Antarctica. However, their impact on ocean circulation around and below ice shelves has been largely unexplored as ocean models are commonly characterized by resolutions that are too coarse to resolve their presence. Here, we apply the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model at high resolution to investigate the sensitivity of sub-shelf ocean dynamics and ice shelf melting to the presence of a km-wide rift in proximity of the ice front. We find that (a) the rift curtails water and heat intrusion beneath the ice shelf base and (b) basal melting of a rifted ice shelf is on average 20 % lower than for an intact ice shelf under identical forcing. We therefore posit that rifts and their impact in the sub-shelf dynamics are important to consider in order to accurately reproduce and project pathways of heat intrusion into the ice shelf cavity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Poinelli, Mattia Schodlok, Michael Larour, Eric Vizcaino, Miren Riva, Riccardo |
author_facet |
Poinelli, Mattia Schodlok, Michael Larour, Eric Vizcaino, Miren Riva, Riccardo |
author_sort |
Poinelli, Mattia |
title |
Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? |
title_short |
Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? |
title_full |
Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? |
title_fullStr |
Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? |
title_sort |
can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-75 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064746 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/egusphere-2023-75/egusphere-2023-75.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-57.083,-57.083,-63.550,-63.550) |
geographic |
Antarctic Buttress The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Buttress The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-75 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00064746 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/egusphere-2023-75/egusphere-2023-75.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-75 |
_version_ |
1766251257487425536 |