Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica
Thwaites Glacier is the most rapidly changing outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and adds large uncertainty to 21st century sea-level rise predictions. Here, we present the first direct observations of ocean temperature, salinity, and oxygen beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf front, collected by an auto...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8034858 2023-05-15T13:33:23+02:00 Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica Wåhlin, A. K. Graham, A. G. C. Hogan, K. A. Queste, B. Y. Boehme, L. Larter, R. D Pettit, E. C. Wellner, J. Heywood, K. J. 2021-04-09 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8034858/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33837074 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd7254 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8034858/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33837074 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd7254 Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY-NC Sci Adv Research Articles Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd7254 2021-04-25T00:23:43Z Thwaites Glacier is the most rapidly changing outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and adds large uncertainty to 21st century sea-level rise predictions. Here, we present the first direct observations of ocean temperature, salinity, and oxygen beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf front, collected by an autonomous underwater vehicle. On the basis of these data, pathways and modification of water flowing into the cavity are identified. Deep water underneath the central ice shelf derives from a previously underestimated eastern branch of warm water entering the cavity from Pine Island Bay. Inflow of warm and outflow of melt-enriched waters are identified in two seafloor troughs to the north. Spatial property gradients highlight a previously unknown convergence zone in one trough, where different water masses meet and mix. Our observations show warm water impinging from all sides on pinning points critical to ice-shelf stability, a scenario that may lead to unpinning and retreat. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Bay Thwaites Glacier Thwaites Ice Shelf West Antarctica PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Island Bay ENVELOPE(-109.085,-109.085,59.534,59.534) Pine Island Bay ENVELOPE(-102.000,-102.000,-74.750,-74.750) Thwaites Glacier ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica Science Advances 7 15 eabd7254 |
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Research Articles |
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Research Articles Wåhlin, A. K. Graham, A. G. C. Hogan, K. A. Queste, B. Y. Boehme, L. Larter, R. D Pettit, E. C. Wellner, J. Heywood, K. J. Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica |
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Research Articles |
description |
Thwaites Glacier is the most rapidly changing outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and adds large uncertainty to 21st century sea-level rise predictions. Here, we present the first direct observations of ocean temperature, salinity, and oxygen beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf front, collected by an autonomous underwater vehicle. On the basis of these data, pathways and modification of water flowing into the cavity are identified. Deep water underneath the central ice shelf derives from a previously underestimated eastern branch of warm water entering the cavity from Pine Island Bay. Inflow of warm and outflow of melt-enriched waters are identified in two seafloor troughs to the north. Spatial property gradients highlight a previously unknown convergence zone in one trough, where different water masses meet and mix. Our observations show warm water impinging from all sides on pinning points critical to ice-shelf stability, a scenario that may lead to unpinning and retreat. |
format |
Text |
author |
Wåhlin, A. K. Graham, A. G. C. Hogan, K. A. Queste, B. Y. Boehme, L. Larter, R. D Pettit, E. C. Wellner, J. Heywood, K. J. |
author_facet |
Wåhlin, A. K. Graham, A. G. C. Hogan, K. A. Queste, B. Y. Boehme, L. Larter, R. D Pettit, E. C. Wellner, J. Heywood, K. J. |
author_sort |
Wåhlin, A. K. |
title |
Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica |
title_short |
Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica |
title_full |
Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica |
title_sort |
pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath thwaites ice shelf, west antarctica |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8034858/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33837074 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd7254 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-109.085,-109.085,59.534,59.534) ENVELOPE(-102.000,-102.000,-74.750,-74.750) ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) |
geographic |
Antarctic Island Bay Pine Island Bay Thwaites Glacier West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Island Bay Pine Island Bay Thwaites Glacier West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Bay Thwaites Glacier Thwaites Ice Shelf West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Bay Thwaites Glacier Thwaites Ice Shelf West Antarctica |
op_source |
Sci Adv |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8034858/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33837074 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd7254 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd7254 |
container_title |
Science Advances |
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7 |
container_issue |
15 |
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eabd7254 |
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1766041758963073024 |