Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration
After Totten, Denman Glacier is the largest contributor to sea level rise in East Antarctica. Denman's catchment contains an ice volume equivalent to 1.5 m of global sea level and sits in the Aurora Subglacial Basin (ASB). Geological evidence of this basin's sensitivity to past warm period...
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ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:46022 2023-05-15T13:44:52+02:00 Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration Miles, Bertie W. J. Jordan, Jim Stokes, Chris R. Jamieson, Stewart S. R. Gudmundsson, Hilmar Jenkins, Adrian 2021-02-11 text https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46022/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-663-2021 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46022/1/tc_15_663_2021.pdf en eng Coperincus https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46022/1/tc_15_663_2021.pdf Miles, Bertie W. J., Jordan, Jim, Stokes, Chris R., Jamieson, Stewart S. R., Gudmundsson, Hilmar and Jenkins, Adrian (2021) Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration. The Cryosphere, 15 (2). pp. 663-676. ISSN 1994-0424 cc_by_4_0 CC-BY F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftunivnorthumb https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-663-2021 2022-09-25T06:13:44Z After Totten, Denman Glacier is the largest contributor to sea level rise in East Antarctica. Denman's catchment contains an ice volume equivalent to 1.5 m of global sea level and sits in the Aurora Subglacial Basin (ASB). Geological evidence of this basin's sensitivity to past warm periods, combined with recent observations showing that Denman's ice speed is accelerating and its grounding line is retreating along a retrograde slope, has raised the prospect that its contributions to sea level rise could accelerate. In this study, we produce the first long-term (∼50 years) record of past glacier behaviour (ice flow speed, ice tongue structure and calving) and combine these observations with numerical modelling to explore the likely drivers of its recent change. We find a spatially widespread acceleration of the Denman system since the 1970s across both its grounded (17±4 % acceleration; 1972–2017) and floating portions (36±5 % acceleration; 1972–2017). Our numerical modelling experiments show that a combination of grounding line retreat, ice tongue thinning and the unpinning of Denman's ice tongue from a pinning point following its last major calving event are required to simulate an acceleration comparable with observations. Given its bed topography and the geological evidence that Denman Glacier has retreated substantially in the past, its recent grounding line retreat and ice flow acceleration suggest that it could be poised to make a significant contribution to sea level in the near future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Denman Glacier East Antarctica The Cryosphere Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) Denman Glacier ENVELOPE(99.417,99.417,-66.750,-66.750) East Antarctica The Cryosphere 15 2 663 676 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnorthumb |
language |
English |
topic |
F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Miles, Bertie W. J. Jordan, Jim Stokes, Chris R. Jamieson, Stewart S. R. Gudmundsson, Hilmar Jenkins, Adrian Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration |
topic_facet |
F700 Ocean Sciences F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
description |
After Totten, Denman Glacier is the largest contributor to sea level rise in East Antarctica. Denman's catchment contains an ice volume equivalent to 1.5 m of global sea level and sits in the Aurora Subglacial Basin (ASB). Geological evidence of this basin's sensitivity to past warm periods, combined with recent observations showing that Denman's ice speed is accelerating and its grounding line is retreating along a retrograde slope, has raised the prospect that its contributions to sea level rise could accelerate. In this study, we produce the first long-term (∼50 years) record of past glacier behaviour (ice flow speed, ice tongue structure and calving) and combine these observations with numerical modelling to explore the likely drivers of its recent change. We find a spatially widespread acceleration of the Denman system since the 1970s across both its grounded (17±4 % acceleration; 1972–2017) and floating portions (36±5 % acceleration; 1972–2017). Our numerical modelling experiments show that a combination of grounding line retreat, ice tongue thinning and the unpinning of Denman's ice tongue from a pinning point following its last major calving event are required to simulate an acceleration comparable with observations. Given its bed topography and the geological evidence that Denman Glacier has retreated substantially in the past, its recent grounding line retreat and ice flow acceleration suggest that it could be poised to make a significant contribution to sea level in the near future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Miles, Bertie W. J. Jordan, Jim Stokes, Chris R. Jamieson, Stewart S. R. Gudmundsson, Hilmar Jenkins, Adrian |
author_facet |
Miles, Bertie W. J. Jordan, Jim Stokes, Chris R. Jamieson, Stewart S. R. Gudmundsson, Hilmar Jenkins, Adrian |
author_sort |
Miles, Bertie W. J. |
title |
Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration |
title_short |
Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration |
title_full |
Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration |
title_fullStr |
Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration |
title_sort |
recent acceleration of denman glacier (1972–2017), east antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration |
publisher |
Coperincus |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46022/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-663-2021 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46022/1/tc_15_663_2021.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(99.417,99.417,-66.750,-66.750) |
geographic |
Denman Glacier East Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Denman Glacier East Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Denman Glacier East Antarctica The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Denman Glacier East Antarctica The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46022/1/tc_15_663_2021.pdf Miles, Bertie W. J., Jordan, Jim, Stokes, Chris R., Jamieson, Stewart S. R., Gudmundsson, Hilmar and Jenkins, Adrian (2021) Recent acceleration of Denman Glacier (1972–2017), East Antarctica, driven by grounding line retreat and changes in ice tongue configuration. The Cryosphere, 15 (2). pp. 663-676. ISSN 1994-0424 |
op_rights |
cc_by_4_0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-663-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
663 |
op_container_end_page |
676 |
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1766207866060931072 |