The bedrock topography of Starbuck Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula, as determined by radio-echo soundings and flow modeling

A glacier-wide ice-thickness distribution and bedrock topography is presented for Starbuck Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula. The results are based on 90 km of ground-based radio-echo sounding lines collected during the 2012/13 field season. Cross-validation with ice-thickness measurements provided by NA...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Farinotti, Daniel, King, Edward C., Albrecht, Anika, Huss, Matthias, Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://doc.rero.ch/record/211421/files/hus_bts.pdf
Description
Summary:A glacier-wide ice-thickness distribution and bedrock topography is presented for Starbuck Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula. The results are based on 90 km of ground-based radio-echo sounding lines collected during the 2012/13 field season. Cross-validation with ice-thickness measurements provided by NASA's IceBridge project reveals excellent agreement. Glacier-wide estimates are derived using a model that calculates distributed ice thickness, calibrated with the radio-echo soundings. Additional constraints are obtained from in situ ice flow-speed measurements and the surface topography. The results indicate a reverse-sloped bed extending from a riegel occurring ∼5 km upstream of the current grounding line. The deepest parts of the glacier are as much as 500 m below sea level. The calculated total volume of 80.7 ± 7.2 km3 corresponds to an average ice thickness of 312 ± 30 m.