Sensitivity of the Ross Ice Shelf to environmental and glaciological controls

The Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) is currently stable but recent observations have indicated that basal melt rates beneath the ice shelf are expected to increase. It is important to know which areas of the RIS are more sensitive to enhanced basal melting as well as other external forcings or internal materia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: F. Baldacchino, M. Morlighem, N. R. Golledge, H. Horgan, A. Malyarenko
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
Subjects:
geo
envir
Ross Ice Shelf
Siple
Siple Coast
Transantarctic Mountains
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
The Cryosphere
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3723-2022
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/3723/2022/tc-16-3723-2022.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/da22fe33b8c245088ecd3b5f9f4b3ab9
Description
Summary:The Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) is currently stable but recent observations have indicated that basal melt rates beneath the ice shelf are expected to increase. It is important to know which areas of the RIS are more sensitive to enhanced basal melting as well as other external forcings or internal material properties of the ice to understand how climate change will influence RIS mass balance. In this paper, we use automatic differentiation and the Ice Sheet and Sea-level System Model to quantify the sensitivity of the RIS to changes in basal friction, ice rigidity, surface mass balance, and basal melting. Using volume above flotation (VAF) as our quantity of interest, we find that the RIS is most sensitive to changes in basal friction and ice rigidity close to grounding lines and along shear margins of the Siple Coast Ice Streams and Transantarctic Mountains Outlet Glaciers. The RIS sensitivity to surface mass balance is uniform over grounded ice, while the sensitivity to basal melting is more spatially variable. Changes in basal melting close to the grounding lines of the Siple Coast Ice Streams and Transantarctic Mountains outlet glaciers have a larger impact on the final VAF compared to elsewhere. Additionally, the pinning points and ice shelf shear margins are highly sensitive to changes in basal melt. Our sensitivity maps allow areas of greatest future vulnerability to be identified.

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