Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis
Recent observations and ice-dynamic modeling suggest that a marine ice-sheet instability (MISI) might have been triggered in West Antarctica. The corresponding outlet glaciers, Pine Island Glacier (PIG) and Thwaites Glacier (TG), showed significant retreat during at least the last 2 decades. While o...
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fttibhannoverren:oai:oa.tib.eu:123456789/4906 2023-05-15T13:53:54+02:00 Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis Levermann, A. Feldmann, J. 2019 application/pdf https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/4906 https://doi.org/10.34657/3535 eng eng Göttingen : Copernicus GmbH ISSN:1994-0416 DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1621-2019 https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/4906 https://doi.org/10.34657/3535 CC BY 4.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ frei zugänglich CC-BY Cryosphere 13 (2019), Nr. 6 glacier dynamics hydrological modeling ice sheet ice shelf instability one-dimensional modeling scale effect timescale uncertainty analysis Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica ddc:550 status-type:publishedVersion doc-type:article doc-type:Text 2019 fttibhannoverren https://doi.org/10.34657/3535 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1621-2019 2022-07-25T16:18:04Z Recent observations and ice-dynamic modeling suggest that a marine ice-sheet instability (MISI) might have been triggered in West Antarctica. The corresponding outlet glaciers, Pine Island Glacier (PIG) and Thwaites Glacier (TG), showed significant retreat during at least the last 2 decades. While other regions in Antarctica have the topographic predisposition for the same kind of instability, it is so far unclear how fast these instabilities would unfold if they were initiated. Here we employ the concept of similitude to estimate the characteristic timescales of several potentially MISI-prone outlet glaciers around the Antarctic coast. Our results suggest that TG and PIG have the fastest response time of all investigated outlets, with TG responding about 1.25 to 2 times as fast as PIG, while other outlets around Antarctica would be up to 10 times slower if destabilized. These results have to be viewed in light of the strong assumptions made in their derivation. These include the absence of ice-shelf buttressing, the one-dimensionality of the approach and the uncertainty of the available data. We argue however that the current topographic situation and the physical conditions of the MISI-prone outlet glaciers carry the information of their respective timescale and that this information can be partially extracted through a similitude analysis. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica Renate - Repositorium für Naturwissenschaften und Technik (TIB Hannover) Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctica Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) Thwaites Glacier ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) Misi ENVELOPE(26.683,26.683,66.617,66.617) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Renate - Repositorium für Naturwissenschaften und Technik (TIB Hannover) |
op_collection_id |
fttibhannoverren |
language |
English |
topic |
glacier dynamics hydrological modeling ice sheet ice shelf instability one-dimensional modeling scale effect timescale uncertainty analysis Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica ddc:550 |
spellingShingle |
glacier dynamics hydrological modeling ice sheet ice shelf instability one-dimensional modeling scale effect timescale uncertainty analysis Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica ddc:550 Levermann, A. Feldmann, J. Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis |
topic_facet |
glacier dynamics hydrological modeling ice sheet ice shelf instability one-dimensional modeling scale effect timescale uncertainty analysis Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica ddc:550 |
description |
Recent observations and ice-dynamic modeling suggest that a marine ice-sheet instability (MISI) might have been triggered in West Antarctica. The corresponding outlet glaciers, Pine Island Glacier (PIG) and Thwaites Glacier (TG), showed significant retreat during at least the last 2 decades. While other regions in Antarctica have the topographic predisposition for the same kind of instability, it is so far unclear how fast these instabilities would unfold if they were initiated. Here we employ the concept of similitude to estimate the characteristic timescales of several potentially MISI-prone outlet glaciers around the Antarctic coast. Our results suggest that TG and PIG have the fastest response time of all investigated outlets, with TG responding about 1.25 to 2 times as fast as PIG, while other outlets around Antarctica would be up to 10 times slower if destabilized. These results have to be viewed in light of the strong assumptions made in their derivation. These include the absence of ice-shelf buttressing, the one-dimensionality of the approach and the uncertainty of the available data. We argue however that the current topographic situation and the physical conditions of the MISI-prone outlet glaciers carry the information of their respective timescale and that this information can be partially extracted through a similitude analysis. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Levermann, A. Feldmann, J. |
author_facet |
Levermann, A. Feldmann, J. |
author_sort |
Levermann, A. |
title |
Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis |
title_short |
Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis |
title_full |
Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis |
title_fullStr |
Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Scaling of instability timescales of Antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis |
title_sort |
scaling of instability timescales of antarctic outlet glaciers based on one-dimensional similitude analysis |
publisher |
Göttingen : Copernicus GmbH |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/4906 https://doi.org/10.34657/3535 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) ENVELOPE(26.683,26.683,66.617,66.617) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier Misi |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic West Antarctica Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier Misi |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
op_source |
Cryosphere 13 (2019), Nr. 6 |
op_relation |
ISSN:1994-0416 DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1621-2019 https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/4906 https://doi.org/10.34657/3535 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ frei zugänglich |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.34657/3535 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1621-2019 |
_version_ |
1766259381965422592 |