Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering

Pine Island Glacier is one of the fastest and most dynamic glaciers in West Antarctica. The stability of the glacier may thus have profound impact on the overall stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to global sea-level rise. This thesis addresses questions concerning the pa...

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Main Author: Karlsson, Nanna Bjørnholt
Other Authors: Rippin, David (Supervisor), The University of Hull (Sponsor), International Glaciological Society (Sponsor), British Antarctic Survey (Sponsor), Anglo-Danish Society (Sponsor)
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Geography, The University of Hull 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:4457a/content
id ftunivhull:oai:hull.ac.uk:hull:4457
record_format openpolar
spelling ftunivhull:oai:hull.ac.uk:hull:4457 2023-05-15T13:38:00+02:00 Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering Karlsson, Nanna Bjørnholt Rippin, David (Supervisor) The University of Hull (Sponsor) International Glaciological Society (Sponsor) British Antarctic Survey (Sponsor) Anglo-Danish Society (Sponsor) 2010-11 application/pdf Filesize: 92,327KB http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:4457a/content eng eng Department of Geography, The University of Hull hull:4457 http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:4457a/content (c) 2010 Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder. Geography text Thesis or Dissertation 2010 ftunivhull 2022-12-23T14:01:20Z Pine Island Glacier is one of the fastest and most dynamic glaciers in West Antarctica. The stability of the glacier may thus have profound impact on the overall stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to global sea-level rise. This thesis addresses questions concerning the past dynamics of the glacier using observations of the internal layers in the ice imaged by radio-echo sounding. Results from an extensive internal layer classification showed that no major spatial changes have taken place in the glacier although the analyses did identify signs indicating a past change of flow pattern in several localised areas in the northern part of the catchment basin. Results also indicated that different parts of Pine Island Glacier are likely to respond in different ways to external forcing. The analyses of the radar data were facilitated by the development of new methods for layer classification and tracing. The second part of this thesis focussed on modelling the internal layers using two- and three-dimensional numerical ice flow models. Comparisons between the observed layers and results from the three-dimensional model indicated that a likely change in accumulation rate and pattern had taken place during the past 7 kyr - 17.5 kyr. The model also indicated a time scale for the changes in flow pattern of approximately 6 - 10 kyr. Results from the two-dimensional model further highlighted areas likely to have undergone changes in past ice flow pattern. The results from this study can feed into current efforts to understand the past dynamics of WAIS in order to establish its response to future climate change. Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica University of Hull: Hydra Antarctic Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica
institution Open Polar
collection University of Hull: Hydra
op_collection_id ftunivhull
language English
topic Geography
spellingShingle Geography
Karlsson, Nanna Bjørnholt
Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering
topic_facet Geography
description Pine Island Glacier is one of the fastest and most dynamic glaciers in West Antarctica. The stability of the glacier may thus have profound impact on the overall stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to global sea-level rise. This thesis addresses questions concerning the past dynamics of the glacier using observations of the internal layers in the ice imaged by radio-echo sounding. Results from an extensive internal layer classification showed that no major spatial changes have taken place in the glacier although the analyses did identify signs indicating a past change of flow pattern in several localised areas in the northern part of the catchment basin. Results also indicated that different parts of Pine Island Glacier are likely to respond in different ways to external forcing. The analyses of the radar data were facilitated by the development of new methods for layer classification and tracing. The second part of this thesis focussed on modelling the internal layers using two- and three-dimensional numerical ice flow models. Comparisons between the observed layers and results from the three-dimensional model indicated that a likely change in accumulation rate and pattern had taken place during the past 7 kyr - 17.5 kyr. The model also indicated a time scale for the changes in flow pattern of approximately 6 - 10 kyr. Results from the two-dimensional model further highlighted areas likely to have undergone changes in past ice flow pattern. The results from this study can feed into current efforts to understand the past dynamics of WAIS in order to establish its response to future climate change.
author2 Rippin, David (Supervisor)
The University of Hull (Sponsor)
International Glaciological Society (Sponsor)
British Antarctic Survey (Sponsor)
Anglo-Danish Society (Sponsor)
format Thesis
author Karlsson, Nanna Bjørnholt
author_facet Karlsson, Nanna Bjørnholt
author_sort Karlsson, Nanna Bjørnholt
title Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering
title_short Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering
title_full Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering
title_fullStr Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering
title_full_unstemmed Radio-echo sounding of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering
title_sort radio-echo sounding of pine island glacier, west antarctica : understanding the past from observations, analysis and modelling of internal layering
publisher Department of Geography, The University of Hull
publishDate 2010
url http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:4457a/content
long_lat ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000)
geographic Antarctic
Pine Island Glacier
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
West Antarctica
geographic_facet Antarctic
Pine Island Glacier
West Antarctic Ice Sheet
West Antarctica
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Pine Island
Pine Island Glacier
West Antarctica
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Pine Island
Pine Island Glacier
West Antarctica
op_relation hull:4457
http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:4457a/content
op_rights (c) 2010 Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.
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