Modeling Antarctic tides in response to ice shelf thinning and retreat

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
• Main Authors: Rosier, SHR, Green, JAM, Scourse, JD, Winkelmann, R
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) / Wiley 2014
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/26364; https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009240

This is the final version of the article. Available from American Geophysical Union via the DOI in this record. Tides play an important role in ice sheet dynamics by modulating ice stream velocity, fracturing, and moving ice shelves and mixing water beneath them. Any changes in ice shelf extent or thickness will alter the tidal dynamics through modification of water column thickness and coastal topography but these will in turn feed back onto the overall ice shelf stability. Here, we show that removal or reduction in extent and/or thickness of the Ross and Ronne-Filchner ice shelves would have a significant impact on the tides around Antarctica. The Ronne-Filchner appears particularly vulnerable, with an increase in M2 amplitude of over 0.5 m beneath much of the ice shelf potentially leading to tidally induced feedbacks on ice shelf/sheet dynamics. These results highlight the importance of understanding tidal feedbacks on ice shelves/streams due to their influence on ice sheet dynamics. Funding was provided by the Natural Environmental Research Council through grants NE/J/500203/1 (SHRR PhD studentship) and NE/F/014821/1 (JAMG Advanced Fellowship). J.A.M.G. and J.D.S. acknowledge funding from the Climate Change Consortium of Wales (C3W), and R.W. received support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF grant 01LP1171A). Comments from Paul Holland and three anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript.