Brief communication: Thwaites Glacier cavity evolution

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Bevan, Suzanne L., Luckman, Adrian J., Benn, Douglas I., Adusumilli, Susheel, Crawford, Anna
• Other Authors: NERC, University of St Andrews.Environmental Change Research Group, University of St Andrews.Bell-Edwards Geographic Data Institute, University of St Andrews.School of Geography & Sustainable Development
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: GE Environmental Sciences; DAS; GE; Thwaites Glacier; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10023/23722; https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3317-2021

The research was completed under Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) projects CALISMO (Calving laws for ice-sheet models) and DOMINOS (Disintegration of marine ice-sheets using novel optimised solutions). The DOMINOS project is a component of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) supported by National Science Foundation (NSF: Grant PLR 1738896). Between 2014 and 2017, ocean melt eroded a large cavity beneath and along the western margin of the fast-flowing core of Thwaites Glacier. Here we show that from 2017 to the end of 2020 the cavity persisted but did not expand. This behaviour, of melt concentrated at the grounding line within confined sub-shelf cavities, fits with prior observations and modelling studies. We also show that acceleration and thinning of Thwaites Glacier grounded ice continued, with an increase in speed of 400 m a-1 and a thinning rate of at least 1.5 m a-1, between 2012 and 2020. Peer reviewed