Recent dramatic thinning of largest West-Antarctic ice stream triggered by oceans.

A growing body of observational data suggests that Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is changing on decadal or shorter timescales. These changes may have far-reaching consequences for the future of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) and global sea levels because of PIG's role as the ice sheet's p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Payne, A. J., Vieli, A., Shepherd, A. P., Wingham, D. J., Rignot, E.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: American Geophysical Union 2004
Subjects:
Hydrology
Glaciology
Mathematical Geophysics
Modeling
Information Related to Geographic Region
Antarctica
Antarctic
Pine Island Glacier
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Antarc*
Ice Sheet
Pine Island
Online Access:http://dro.dur.ac.uk/1231/
http://dro.dur.ac.uk/1231/1/1231.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL021284
Description
Summary:A growing body of observational data suggests that Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is changing on decadal or shorter timescales. These changes may have far-reaching consequences for the future of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) and global sea levels because of PIG's role as the ice sheet's primary drainage portal. We test the hypothesis that these changes are triggered by the adjoining ocean. Specifically, we employ an advanced numerical ice-flow model to simulate the effects of perturbations at the grounding line on PIG's dynamics. The speed at which these changes are propagated upstream implies a tight coupling between ice-sheet interior and surrounding ocean.

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