The glacial geomorphology of western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Reconstructing the response of present-day ice sheets to past global climate change is important for constraining and refining the numerical models which forecast future contributions of these ice sheets to sea-level change. Mapping landforms is an essential step in reconstructing glacial histories....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Maps
Main Authors: Newall, Jennifer C. H., Dymova, Taisiya, Serra, Elena, Blomdin, Robin, Fredin, O., Glasser, N. F., Suganuma, Y., Harbor, Jonathan M., Stroeven, Arjen P.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi 2020
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Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-183923
https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1761464
Description
Summary:Reconstructing the response of present-day ice sheets to past global climate change is important for constraining and refining the numerical models which forecast future contributions of these ice sheets to sea-level change. Mapping landforms is an essential step in reconstructing glacial histories. Here we present a new map of glacial landforms and deposits on nunataks in western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Nunataks are mountains or ridges that currently protrude through the ice sheet and may provide evidence that they have been wholly or partly covered by ice, thus indicating a formerly more extensive (thicker) ice sheet. The map was produced through a combination of mapping from Worldview satellite imagery and ground validation. The sub-metre spatial resolution of the satellite imagery enabled mapping with unprecedented detail. Ten landform categories have been mapped, and the landform distributions provide evidence constraining spatial patterns of a previously thicker ice sheet.