Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing
Previous studies of Totten Ice Shelf have employed surface velocity measurements to estimate its mass balance and understand its sensitivities to interannual changes in climate forcing. However, displacement measurements acquired over timescales of days to weeks may not accurately characterize long-...
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2018
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Online Access: | https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:f78ab95 |
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ftunivqespace:oai:espace.library.uq.edu.au:UQ:f78ab95 2023-05-15T16:41:50+02:00 Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing Greene, Chad A. Young, Duncan A. Gwyther, David E. Galton-Fenzi, Benjamin K. Blankenship, Donald D. 2018-09-06 https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:f78ab95 unknown Copernicus doi:10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 issn:1994-0424 issn:1994-0416 orcid:0000-0002-7218-2785 PLR-1543452 n/a SR140300001 Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology Journal Article 2018 ftunivqespace https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 2020-10-27T06:12:31Z Previous studies of Totten Ice Shelf have employed surface velocity measurements to estimate its mass balance and understand its sensitivities to interannual changes in climate forcing. However, displacement measurements acquired over timescales of days to weeks may not accurately characterize long-term flow rates wherein ice velocity fluctuates with the seasons. Quantifying annual mass budgets or analyzing interannual changes in ice velocity requires knowing when and where observations of glacier velocity could be aliased by subannual variability. Here, we analyze 16 years of velocity data for Totten Ice Shelf, which we generate at subannual resolution by applying feature-tracking algorithms to several hundred satellite image pairs. We identify a seasonal cycle characterized by a spring to autumn speedup of more than 100 m yr−1 close to the ice front. The amplitude of the seasonal cycle diminishes with distance from the open ocean, suggesting the presence of a resistive back stress at the ice front that is strongest in winter. Springtime acceleration precedes summer surface melt and is not attributable to thinning from basal melt. We attribute the onset of ice shelf acceleration each spring to the loss of buttressing from the breakup of seasonal landfast sea ice. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Shelf Sea ice Totten Ice Shelf The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace The Cryosphere 12 9 2869 2882 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivqespace |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology |
spellingShingle |
Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology Greene, Chad A. Young, Duncan A. Gwyther, David E. Galton-Fenzi, Benjamin K. Blankenship, Donald D. Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology |
description |
Previous studies of Totten Ice Shelf have employed surface velocity measurements to estimate its mass balance and understand its sensitivities to interannual changes in climate forcing. However, displacement measurements acquired over timescales of days to weeks may not accurately characterize long-term flow rates wherein ice velocity fluctuates with the seasons. Quantifying annual mass budgets or analyzing interannual changes in ice velocity requires knowing when and where observations of glacier velocity could be aliased by subannual variability. Here, we analyze 16 years of velocity data for Totten Ice Shelf, which we generate at subannual resolution by applying feature-tracking algorithms to several hundred satellite image pairs. We identify a seasonal cycle characterized by a spring to autumn speedup of more than 100 m yr−1 close to the ice front. The amplitude of the seasonal cycle diminishes with distance from the open ocean, suggesting the presence of a resistive back stress at the ice front that is strongest in winter. Springtime acceleration precedes summer surface melt and is not attributable to thinning from basal melt. We attribute the onset of ice shelf acceleration each spring to the loss of buttressing from the breakup of seasonal landfast sea ice. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Greene, Chad A. Young, Duncan A. Gwyther, David E. Galton-Fenzi, Benjamin K. Blankenship, Donald D. |
author_facet |
Greene, Chad A. Young, Duncan A. Gwyther, David E. Galton-Fenzi, Benjamin K. Blankenship, Donald D. |
author_sort |
Greene, Chad A. |
title |
Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
title_short |
Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
title_full |
Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
title_sort |
seasonal dynamics of totten ice shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
publisher |
Copernicus |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:f78ab95 |
genre |
Ice Shelf Sea ice Totten Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Ice Shelf Sea ice Totten Ice Shelf |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 issn:1994-0424 issn:1994-0416 orcid:0000-0002-7218-2785 PLR-1543452 n/a SR140300001 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
2869 |
op_container_end_page |
2882 |
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1766032301986152448 |