Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat
Thinning ice in West Antarctica, resulting from acceleration in the flow of outlet glaciers, is at present contributing about 10% of the observed rise in global sea level. Pine Island Glacier in particular has shown nearly continuous acceleration and thinning, throughout the short observational reco...
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ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:42219 2023-05-15T13:44:52+02:00 Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat Jenkins, Adrian Dutrieux, Pierre Jacobs, Stanley S. McPhail, Stephen D. Perrett, James R. Webb, Andrew T. White, David 2010-06 text https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/42219/ https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo890 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/42219/1/Jenkins_preprint.pdf en eng Nature Publishing https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/42219/1/Jenkins_preprint.pdf Jenkins, Adrian, Dutrieux, Pierre, Jacobs, Stanley S., McPhail, Stephen D., Perrett, James R., Webb, Andrew T. and White, David (2010) Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat. Nature Geoscience, 3 (7). pp. 468-472. ISSN 1752-0894 cc_by_4_0 CC-BY F600 Geology F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Article PeerReviewed 2010 ftunivnorthumb https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo890 2022-09-25T06:11:31Z Thinning ice in West Antarctica, resulting from acceleration in the flow of outlet glaciers, is at present contributing about 10% of the observed rise in global sea level. Pine Island Glacier in particular has shown nearly continuous acceleration and thinning, throughout the short observational record. The floating ice shelf that forms where the glacier reaches the coast has been thinning rapidly, driven by changes in ocean heat transport beneath it. As a result, the line that separates grounded and floating ice has retreated inland. These events have been postulated as the cause for the inland thinning and acceleration. Here we report evidence gathered by an autonomous underwater vehicle operating beneath the ice shelf that Pine Island Glacier was recently grounded on a transverse ridge in the sea floor. Warm sea water now flows through a widening gap above the submarine ridge, rapidly melting the thick ice of the newly formed upstream half of the ice shelf. The present evolution of Pine Island Glacier is thus part of a longer-term trend that has moved the downstream limit of grounded ice inland by 30 km, into water that is 300 m deeper than over the ridge crest. The pace and ultimate extent of such potentially unstable retreat are central to the debate over the possibility of widespread ice-sheet collapse triggered by climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) Crest The ENVELOPE(-56.992,-56.992,-63.406,-63.406) Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) West Antarctica Nature Geoscience 3 7 468 472 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnorthumb |
language |
English |
topic |
F600 Geology F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
F600 Geology F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Jenkins, Adrian Dutrieux, Pierre Jacobs, Stanley S. McPhail, Stephen D. Perrett, James R. Webb, Andrew T. White, David Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat |
topic_facet |
F600 Geology F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
description |
Thinning ice in West Antarctica, resulting from acceleration in the flow of outlet glaciers, is at present contributing about 10% of the observed rise in global sea level. Pine Island Glacier in particular has shown nearly continuous acceleration and thinning, throughout the short observational record. The floating ice shelf that forms where the glacier reaches the coast has been thinning rapidly, driven by changes in ocean heat transport beneath it. As a result, the line that separates grounded and floating ice has retreated inland. These events have been postulated as the cause for the inland thinning and acceleration. Here we report evidence gathered by an autonomous underwater vehicle operating beneath the ice shelf that Pine Island Glacier was recently grounded on a transverse ridge in the sea floor. Warm sea water now flows through a widening gap above the submarine ridge, rapidly melting the thick ice of the newly formed upstream half of the ice shelf. The present evolution of Pine Island Glacier is thus part of a longer-term trend that has moved the downstream limit of grounded ice inland by 30 km, into water that is 300 m deeper than over the ridge crest. The pace and ultimate extent of such potentially unstable retreat are central to the debate over the possibility of widespread ice-sheet collapse triggered by climate change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jenkins, Adrian Dutrieux, Pierre Jacobs, Stanley S. McPhail, Stephen D. Perrett, James R. Webb, Andrew T. White, David |
author_facet |
Jenkins, Adrian Dutrieux, Pierre Jacobs, Stanley S. McPhail, Stephen D. Perrett, James R. Webb, Andrew T. White, David |
author_sort |
Jenkins, Adrian |
title |
Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat |
title_short |
Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat |
title_full |
Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat |
title_fullStr |
Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat |
title_full_unstemmed |
Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat |
title_sort |
observations beneath pine island glacier in west antarctica and implications for its retreat |
publisher |
Nature Publishing |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/42219/ https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo890 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/42219/1/Jenkins_preprint.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-56.992,-56.992,-63.406,-63.406) ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) |
geographic |
Crest The Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Crest The Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Pine Island Pine Island Glacier West Antarctica |
op_relation |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/42219/1/Jenkins_preprint.pdf Jenkins, Adrian, Dutrieux, Pierre, Jacobs, Stanley S., McPhail, Stephen D., Perrett, James R., Webb, Andrew T. and White, David (2010) Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat. Nature Geoscience, 3 (7). pp. 468-472. ISSN 1752-0894 |
op_rights |
cc_by_4_0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo890 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
468 |
op_container_end_page |
472 |
_version_ |
1766207760405364736 |