Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment
International audience Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier in the Amundsen Sea Embayment are among the fastest changing outlet glaciers in West Antarctica with large consequences for global sea level. Yet, assessing how much and how fast both glaciers will weaken if these changes continue remai...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
2020
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-02989875 https://hal.science/hal-02989875/document https://hal.science/hal-02989875/file/Lhermitte_et_al_PNAS_2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912890117 |
id |
ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-02989875v1 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere Lhermitte, Stef Sun, Sainan Shuman, Christopher Wouters, Bert Pattyn, Frank Wuite, Jan Berthier, Etienne Nagler, Thomas Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere |
description |
International audience Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier in the Amundsen Sea Embayment are among the fastest changing outlet glaciers in West Antarctica with large consequences for global sea level. Yet, assessing how much and how fast both glaciers will weaken if these changes continue remains a major uncertainty as many of the processes that control their ice shelf weakening and grounding line retreat are not well understood. Here, we combine multisource satellite imagery with modeling to uncover the rapid development of damage areas in the shear zones of Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelves. These damage areas consist of highly crevassed areas and open fractures and are first signs that the shear zones of both ice shelves have structurally weakened over the past decade. Idealized model results reveal moreover that the damage initiates a feedback process where initial ice shelf weakening triggers the development of damage in their shear zones, which results in further speedup, shearing, and weakening, hence promoting additional damage development. This damage feedback potentially preconditions these ice shelves for disintegration and enhances grounding line retreat. The results of this study suggest that damage feedback processes are key to future ice shelf stability, grounding line retreat, and sea level contributions from Antarctica. Moreover, they underline the need for incorporating these feedback processes, which are currently not accounted for in most ice sheet models, to improve sea level rise projections. |
author2 |
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) University of Maryland Baltimore Utrecht University Utrecht Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP) Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lhermitte, Stef Sun, Sainan Shuman, Christopher Wouters, Bert Pattyn, Frank Wuite, Jan Berthier, Etienne Nagler, Thomas |
author_facet |
Lhermitte, Stef Sun, Sainan Shuman, Christopher Wouters, Bert Pattyn, Frank Wuite, Jan Berthier, Etienne Nagler, Thomas |
author_sort |
Lhermitte, Stef |
title |
Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment |
title_short |
Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment |
title_full |
Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment |
title_fullStr |
Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment |
title_sort |
damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in amundsen sea embayment |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-02989875 https://hal.science/hal-02989875/document https://hal.science/hal-02989875/file/Lhermitte_et_al_PNAS_2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912890117 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) |
geographic |
Amundsen Sea Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Amundsen Sea Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Pine Island Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Pine Island Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica |
op_source |
ISSN: 0027-8424 EISSN: 1091-6490 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America https://hal.science/hal-02989875 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020, 117 (40), pp.24735-24741. ⟨10.1073/pnas.1912890117⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1073/pnas.1912890117 hal-02989875 https://hal.science/hal-02989875 https://hal.science/hal-02989875/document https://hal.science/hal-02989875/file/Lhermitte_et_al_PNAS_2020.pdf doi:10.1073/pnas.1912890117 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912890117 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
117 |
container_issue |
40 |
container_start_page |
24735 |
op_container_end_page |
24741 |
_version_ |
1766376240966533120 |
spelling |
ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-02989875v1 2023-05-15T13:23:54+02:00 Damage accelerates ice shelf instability and mass loss in Amundsen Sea Embayment Lhermitte, Stef Sun, Sainan Shuman, Christopher Wouters, Bert Pattyn, Frank Wuite, Jan Berthier, Etienne Nagler, Thomas Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) University of Maryland Baltimore Utrecht University Utrecht Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP) Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2020 https://hal.science/hal-02989875 https://hal.science/hal-02989875/document https://hal.science/hal-02989875/file/Lhermitte_et_al_PNAS_2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912890117 en eng HAL CCSD National Academy of Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1073/pnas.1912890117 hal-02989875 https://hal.science/hal-02989875 https://hal.science/hal-02989875/document https://hal.science/hal-02989875/file/Lhermitte_et_al_PNAS_2020.pdf doi:10.1073/pnas.1912890117 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 0027-8424 EISSN: 1091-6490 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America https://hal.science/hal-02989875 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020, 117 (40), pp.24735-24741. ⟨10.1073/pnas.1912890117⟩ [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2020 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912890117 2023-02-22T02:54:56Z International audience Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier in the Amundsen Sea Embayment are among the fastest changing outlet glaciers in West Antarctica with large consequences for global sea level. Yet, assessing how much and how fast both glaciers will weaken if these changes continue remains a major uncertainty as many of the processes that control their ice shelf weakening and grounding line retreat are not well understood. Here, we combine multisource satellite imagery with modeling to uncover the rapid development of damage areas in the shear zones of Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelves. These damage areas consist of highly crevassed areas and open fractures and are first signs that the shear zones of both ice shelves have structurally weakened over the past decade. Idealized model results reveal moreover that the damage initiates a feedback process where initial ice shelf weakening triggers the development of damage in their shear zones, which results in further speedup, shearing, and weakening, hence promoting additional damage development. This damage feedback potentially preconditions these ice shelves for disintegration and enhances grounding line retreat. The results of this study suggest that damage feedback processes are key to future ice shelf stability, grounding line retreat, and sea level contributions from Antarctica. Moreover, they underline the need for incorporating these feedback processes, which are currently not accounted for in most ice sheet models, to improve sea level rise projections. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Pine Island Pine Island Glacier Thwaites Glacier West Antarctica Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Amundsen Sea Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) Thwaites Glacier ENVELOPE(-106.750,-106.750,-75.500,-75.500) West Antarctica Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117 40 24735 24741 |