Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica
The Antarctic Ice Sheet loses mass to the surrounding ocean mainly by drainage through a network of ice streams: fast-flowing glaciers bounded on either side by ice flowing one or two orders of magnitude more slowly. Ice streams flow despite low driving stress because of low basal resistance but are...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2011
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-907-2011 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/5/907/2011/tc-5-907-2011.pdf https://doaj.org/article/33428e6dffc842d8993a3a1656be2a7e |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:33428e6dffc842d8993a3a1656be2a7e 2023-05-15T13:39:13+02:00 Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica E. C. King 2011-10-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-907-2011 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/5/907/2011/tc-5-907-2011.pdf https://doaj.org/article/33428e6dffc842d8993a3a1656be2a7e en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-5-907-2011 1994-0416 1994-0424 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/5/907/2011/tc-5-907-2011.pdf https://doaj.org/article/33428e6dffc842d8993a3a1656be2a7e undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 5, Iss 4, Pp 907-916 (2011) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2011 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-907-2011 2023-01-22T19:34:41Z The Antarctic Ice Sheet loses mass to the surrounding ocean mainly by drainage through a network of ice streams: fast-flowing glaciers bounded on either side by ice flowing one or two orders of magnitude more slowly. Ice streams flow despite low driving stress because of low basal resistance but are known to cease flowing if the basal conditions change, which can take place when subglacial sediment becomes dewatered by freezing or by a change in hydraulic pathways. Carlson Inlet, Antarctica has been interpreted as a stagnated ice stream, based on surface and basal morphology and shallow radar reflection profiling. To resolve the question of whether the flow history of Carlson Inlet has changed in the past, I conducted a ground-based radar survey of Carlson Inlet, the adjacent part of Rutford Ice Stream, and Talutis Inlet, West Antarctica. This survey provides details of the internal ice stratigraphy and allows the flow history to be interpreted. Tight folding of isochrones in Rutford Ice Stream and Talutis Inlet is interpreted to be the result of lateral compression during convergent flow from a wide catchment into a narrow, fast-flowing trunk. In contrast, the central part of Carlson Inlet has gently-folded isochrones that drape over the bed topography, suggestive of local accumulation and slow flow. A 1-D thermo-mechanical model was used to estimate the age of the ice. I conclude that the ice in the centre of Carlson Inlet has been near-stagnant for between 3500 and 6800 yr and that fast flow has not occurred there during that time period. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Rutford Ice Stream The Cryosphere West Antarctica Unknown Antarctic Carlson Inlet ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-77.833,-77.833) Rutford ENVELOPE(-85.300,-85.300,-78.600,-78.600) Rutford Ice Stream ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-79.167,-79.167) Talutis Inlet ENVELOPE(-81.500,-81.500,-77.250,-77.250) The Antarctic West Antarctica The Cryosphere 5 4 907 916 |
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Open Polar |
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op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir E. C. King Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
The Antarctic Ice Sheet loses mass to the surrounding ocean mainly by drainage through a network of ice streams: fast-flowing glaciers bounded on either side by ice flowing one or two orders of magnitude more slowly. Ice streams flow despite low driving stress because of low basal resistance but are known to cease flowing if the basal conditions change, which can take place when subglacial sediment becomes dewatered by freezing or by a change in hydraulic pathways. Carlson Inlet, Antarctica has been interpreted as a stagnated ice stream, based on surface and basal morphology and shallow radar reflection profiling. To resolve the question of whether the flow history of Carlson Inlet has changed in the past, I conducted a ground-based radar survey of Carlson Inlet, the adjacent part of Rutford Ice Stream, and Talutis Inlet, West Antarctica. This survey provides details of the internal ice stratigraphy and allows the flow history to be interpreted. Tight folding of isochrones in Rutford Ice Stream and Talutis Inlet is interpreted to be the result of lateral compression during convergent flow from a wide catchment into a narrow, fast-flowing trunk. In contrast, the central part of Carlson Inlet has gently-folded isochrones that drape over the bed topography, suggestive of local accumulation and slow flow. A 1-D thermo-mechanical model was used to estimate the age of the ice. I conclude that the ice in the centre of Carlson Inlet has been near-stagnant for between 3500 and 6800 yr and that fast flow has not occurred there during that time period. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
E. C. King |
author_facet |
E. C. King |
author_sort |
E. C. King |
title |
Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_short |
Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_full |
Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_sort |
ice stream or not? radio-echo sounding of carlson inlet, west antarctica |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-907-2011 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/5/907/2011/tc-5-907-2011.pdf https://doaj.org/article/33428e6dffc842d8993a3a1656be2a7e |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-77.833,-77.833) ENVELOPE(-85.300,-85.300,-78.600,-78.600) ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-79.167,-79.167) ENVELOPE(-81.500,-81.500,-77.250,-77.250) |
geographic |
Antarctic Carlson Inlet Rutford Rutford Ice Stream Talutis Inlet The Antarctic West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Carlson Inlet Rutford Rutford Ice Stream Talutis Inlet The Antarctic West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Rutford Ice Stream The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Rutford Ice Stream The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 5, Iss 4, Pp 907-916 (2011) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-5-907-2011 1994-0416 1994-0424 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/5/907/2011/tc-5-907-2011.pdf https://doaj.org/article/33428e6dffc842d8993a3a1656be2a7e |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-907-2011 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
907 |
op_container_end_page |
916 |
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