Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era
Understanding the recent history of Thwaites Glacier, and the processes controlling its ongoing retreat, is key to projecting Antarctic contributions to future sea-level rise. Of particular concern is how the glacier grounding zone might evolve over coming decades where it is stabilized by sea-floor...
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ftuniveastangl:oai:ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk:88023 2023-05-15T13:51:05+02:00 Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era Graham, Alastair G. C. Wåhlin, Anna Hogan, Kelly A. Nitsche, Frank O. Heywood, Karen J. Totten, Rebecca L. Smith, James A. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Simkins, Lauren M. Anderson, John B. Wellner, Julia S. Larter, Robert D. 2022-09 application/pdf https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/88023/ https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/88023/1/Graham_etal_2022_NatureGeoscience.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01019-9 en eng https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/88023/1/Graham_etal_2022_NatureGeoscience.pdf Graham, Alastair G. C., Wåhlin, Anna, Hogan, Kelly A., Nitsche, Frank O., Heywood, Karen J., Totten, Rebecca L., Smith, James A., Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter, Simkins, Lauren M., Anderson, John B., Wellner, Julia S. and Larter, Robert D. (2022) Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era. Nature Geoscience, 15 (9). 706–713. ISSN 1752-0894 doi:10.1038/s41561-022-01019-9 cc_by Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftuniveastangl https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01019-9 2023-03-23T23:32:56Z Understanding the recent history of Thwaites Glacier, and the processes controlling its ongoing retreat, is key to projecting Antarctic contributions to future sea-level rise. Of particular concern is how the glacier grounding zone might evolve over coming decades where it is stabilized by sea-floor bathymetric highs. Here we use geophysical data from an autonomous underwater vehicle deployed at the Thwaites Glacier ice front, to document the ocean-floor imprint of past retreat from a sea-bed promontory. We show patterns of back-stepping sedimentary ridges formed daily by a mechanism of tidal lifting and settling at the grounding line at a time when Thwaites Glacier was more advanced than it is today. Over a duration of 5.5 months, Thwaites grounding zone retreated at a rate of >2.1 km per year—twice the rate observed by satellite at the fastest retreating part of the grounding zone between 2011 and 2019. Our results suggest that sustained pulses of rapid retreat have occurred at Thwaites Glacier in the past two centuries. Similar rapid retreat pulses are likely to occur in the near future when the grounding zone migrates back off stabilizing high points on the sea floor. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Thwaites Glacier University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository Antarctic Thwaites Glacier ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) Nature Geoscience 15 9 706 713 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftuniveastangl |
language |
English |
description |
Understanding the recent history of Thwaites Glacier, and the processes controlling its ongoing retreat, is key to projecting Antarctic contributions to future sea-level rise. Of particular concern is how the glacier grounding zone might evolve over coming decades where it is stabilized by sea-floor bathymetric highs. Here we use geophysical data from an autonomous underwater vehicle deployed at the Thwaites Glacier ice front, to document the ocean-floor imprint of past retreat from a sea-bed promontory. We show patterns of back-stepping sedimentary ridges formed daily by a mechanism of tidal lifting and settling at the grounding line at a time when Thwaites Glacier was more advanced than it is today. Over a duration of 5.5 months, Thwaites grounding zone retreated at a rate of >2.1 km per year—twice the rate observed by satellite at the fastest retreating part of the grounding zone between 2011 and 2019. Our results suggest that sustained pulses of rapid retreat have occurred at Thwaites Glacier in the past two centuries. Similar rapid retreat pulses are likely to occur in the near future when the grounding zone migrates back off stabilizing high points on the sea floor. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Graham, Alastair G. C. Wåhlin, Anna Hogan, Kelly A. Nitsche, Frank O. Heywood, Karen J. Totten, Rebecca L. Smith, James A. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Simkins, Lauren M. Anderson, John B. Wellner, Julia S. Larter, Robert D. |
spellingShingle |
Graham, Alastair G. C. Wåhlin, Anna Hogan, Kelly A. Nitsche, Frank O. Heywood, Karen J. Totten, Rebecca L. Smith, James A. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Simkins, Lauren M. Anderson, John B. Wellner, Julia S. Larter, Robert D. Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era |
author_facet |
Graham, Alastair G. C. Wåhlin, Anna Hogan, Kelly A. Nitsche, Frank O. Heywood, Karen J. Totten, Rebecca L. Smith, James A. Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter Simkins, Lauren M. Anderson, John B. Wellner, Julia S. Larter, Robert D. |
author_sort |
Graham, Alastair G. C. |
title |
Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era |
title_short |
Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era |
title_full |
Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era |
title_fullStr |
Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era |
title_sort |
rapid retreat of thwaites glacier in the pre-satellite era |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/88023/ https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/88023/1/Graham_etal_2022_NatureGeoscience.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01019-9 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) |
geographic |
Antarctic Thwaites Glacier |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Thwaites Glacier |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Thwaites Glacier |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Thwaites Glacier |
op_relation |
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/88023/1/Graham_etal_2022_NatureGeoscience.pdf Graham, Alastair G. C., Wåhlin, Anna, Hogan, Kelly A., Nitsche, Frank O., Heywood, Karen J., Totten, Rebecca L., Smith, James A., Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter, Simkins, Lauren M., Anderson, John B., Wellner, Julia S. and Larter, Robert D. (2022) Rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier in the pre-satellite era. Nature Geoscience, 15 (9). 706–713. ISSN 1752-0894 doi:10.1038/s41561-022-01019-9 |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01019-9 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
706 |
op_container_end_page |
713 |
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1766254678791684096 |