Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations
Major ice loss has recently been observed along coastal outlet glaciers of the West Antarctic ice sheet, mainly due to increased melting below the ice shelves. However, the behavior of this marine ice sheet is poorly understood, leading to significant shortcomings in ice-sheet models attempting to p...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2078/167215 https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J117 |
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ftunistlouisbrus:oai:dial.uclouvain.be:boreal:167215 2024-05-12T07:52:50+00:00 Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations Docquier, David Pollard, David Pattyn, Frank Université Libre de Bruxelles - Laboratoire de Glaciologie Pennsylvania State University - Earth and Environmental Systems Institute UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate 2014 http://hdl.handle.net/2078/167215 https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J117 eng eng International Glaciological Society boreal:167215 http://hdl.handle.net/2078/167215 doi:10.3189/2014JoG13J117 urn:ISSN:0022-1430 urn:EISSN:1727-5652 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 60, no.220, p. 305-313 (2014) glacier flow ice dynamics ice-sheet modeling info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2014 ftunistlouisbrus https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J117 2024-04-18T17:45:26Z Major ice loss has recently been observed along coastal outlet glaciers of the West Antarctic ice sheet, mainly due to increased melting below the ice shelves. However, the behavior of this marine ice sheet is poorly understood, leading to significant shortcomings in ice-sheet models attempting to predict future sea-level rise. The stability of a marine ice sheet is controlled by the dynamics at the grounding line, the boundary between the grounded ice stream and the floating ice shelf. One of the largest contributors to current sea-level rise is the fast-flowing Thwaites Glacier, which flows into the Amundsen Sea. Here we use an ice-stream/ice-shelf model and perform a number of experiments along a central flowline to analyze the sensitivity of its grounding line on centennial timescales. In the absence of width and buttressing effects, we find that the grounding line retreats by ∼300 km in 200 years from the present day (rate of 1.5 km a–1). With variable glacier width implemented in the model, flow convergence slows the retreat of Thwaites grounding line at 0.3–1.2 km a–1. The parameterization of ice-shelf buttressing according to different observed scenarios further reduces the glacier retreat and can even lead to a slight advance in the most buttressed case. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Thwaites Glacier DIAL@USL-B (Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles) Amundsen Sea Antarctic Thwaites Glacier ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) West Antarctic Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology 60 220 305 313 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DIAL@USL-B (Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles) |
op_collection_id |
ftunistlouisbrus |
language |
English |
topic |
glacier flow ice dynamics ice-sheet modeling |
spellingShingle |
glacier flow ice dynamics ice-sheet modeling Docquier, David Pollard, David Pattyn, Frank Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations |
topic_facet |
glacier flow ice dynamics ice-sheet modeling |
description |
Major ice loss has recently been observed along coastal outlet glaciers of the West Antarctic ice sheet, mainly due to increased melting below the ice shelves. However, the behavior of this marine ice sheet is poorly understood, leading to significant shortcomings in ice-sheet models attempting to predict future sea-level rise. The stability of a marine ice sheet is controlled by the dynamics at the grounding line, the boundary between the grounded ice stream and the floating ice shelf. One of the largest contributors to current sea-level rise is the fast-flowing Thwaites Glacier, which flows into the Amundsen Sea. Here we use an ice-stream/ice-shelf model and perform a number of experiments along a central flowline to analyze the sensitivity of its grounding line on centennial timescales. In the absence of width and buttressing effects, we find that the grounding line retreats by ∼300 km in 200 years from the present day (rate of 1.5 km a–1). With variable glacier width implemented in the model, flow convergence slows the retreat of Thwaites grounding line at 0.3–1.2 km a–1. The parameterization of ice-shelf buttressing according to different observed scenarios further reduces the glacier retreat and can even lead to a slight advance in the most buttressed case. |
author2 |
Université Libre de Bruxelles - Laboratoire de Glaciologie Pennsylvania State University - Earth and Environmental Systems Institute UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Docquier, David Pollard, David Pattyn, Frank |
author_facet |
Docquier, David Pollard, David Pattyn, Frank |
author_sort |
Docquier, David |
title |
Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations |
title_short |
Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations |
title_full |
Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations |
title_fullStr |
Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thwaites Glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations |
title_sort |
thwaites glacier grounding-line retreat: influence of width and buttressing parameterizations |
publisher |
International Glaciological Society |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078/167215 https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J117 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) |
geographic |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Thwaites Glacier West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
geographic_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Thwaites Glacier West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Thwaites Glacier |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Thwaites Glacier |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 60, no.220, p. 305-313 (2014) |
op_relation |
boreal:167215 http://hdl.handle.net/2078/167215 doi:10.3189/2014JoG13J117 urn:ISSN:0022-1430 urn:EISSN:1727-5652 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J117 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
220 |
container_start_page |
305 |
op_container_end_page |
313 |
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1798838146978283520 |