External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010
The Mertz Glacier Tongue (MGT) in East Antarctica lost ~55% of its floating length in February 2010, when it calved large tabular iceberg C28 (78 35 km). We analyze the behavior of the MGT over the preceding 12 years using a variety of satellite data (synthetic aperture radar and Landsat imagery and...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003223 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/100218 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:100218 2023-05-15T14:03:25+02:00 External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 Massom, RA Giles, AB Warner, RC Fricker, HA Legresy, B Hyland, G Lescarmontier, L Young, N 2015 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003223 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/100218 en eng Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc http://ecite.utas.edu.au/100218/1/Massom_2015_Mertz_calving.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003223 Massom, RA and Giles, AB and Warner, RC and Fricker, HA and Legresy, B and Hyland, G and Lescarmontier, L and Young, N, External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 120, (3) pp. 490-506. ISSN 2169-9003 (2015) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/100218 Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Glaciology Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003223 2019-12-13T22:02:02Z The Mertz Glacier Tongue (MGT) in East Antarctica lost ~55% of its floating length in February 2010, when it calved large tabular iceberg C28 (78 35 km). We analyze the behavior of the MGT over the preceding 12 years using a variety of satellite data (synthetic aperture radar and Landsat imagery and Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite laser altimetry). Contact of its northwestern tip with the eastern flank of shoals from 2002/2003 caused eastward deflection of the ice flow by up to ~47. This change contributed to opening of a major rift system ~80 km to the south, along which iceberg C28 eventually calved. Paradoxically, the seabed contact may have also held the glacier tongue in place to delay calving by ~8 years. Our study also reveals the effects of other, more localized external influences on the MGT prior to calving. These include an abrupt sideways displacement of the glacier tongue front by at least ~145 m following an apparent collision with iceberg C08 in early 2002 and calving of numerous small icebergs from the advancing northwestern front due to the chiseling action of small grounded icebergs and seabed contact, resulting in the loss of ~36 km 2 of ice from 2001 to 2006. The example of the MGT confirms the need for accurate bathymetry in the vicinity of ice shelves and glacier tongues and suggests that the cumulative effect of external factors might be critical to understanding and modeling calving events and ice shelf stability, necessarily on a case-specific basis. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Mertz Glacier eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) East Antarctica Mertz Glacier ENVELOPE(144.500,144.500,-67.667,-67.667) Mertz Glacier Tongue ENVELOPE(145.500,145.500,-67.167,-67.167) Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 120 3 490 506 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Glaciology |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Glaciology Massom, RA Giles, AB Warner, RC Fricker, HA Legresy, B Hyland, G Lescarmontier, L Young, N External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Glaciology |
description |
The Mertz Glacier Tongue (MGT) in East Antarctica lost ~55% of its floating length in February 2010, when it calved large tabular iceberg C28 (78 35 km). We analyze the behavior of the MGT over the preceding 12 years using a variety of satellite data (synthetic aperture radar and Landsat imagery and Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite laser altimetry). Contact of its northwestern tip with the eastern flank of shoals from 2002/2003 caused eastward deflection of the ice flow by up to ~47. This change contributed to opening of a major rift system ~80 km to the south, along which iceberg C28 eventually calved. Paradoxically, the seabed contact may have also held the glacier tongue in place to delay calving by ~8 years. Our study also reveals the effects of other, more localized external influences on the MGT prior to calving. These include an abrupt sideways displacement of the glacier tongue front by at least ~145 m following an apparent collision with iceberg C08 in early 2002 and calving of numerous small icebergs from the advancing northwestern front due to the chiseling action of small grounded icebergs and seabed contact, resulting in the loss of ~36 km 2 of ice from 2001 to 2006. The example of the MGT confirms the need for accurate bathymetry in the vicinity of ice shelves and glacier tongues and suggests that the cumulative effect of external factors might be critical to understanding and modeling calving events and ice shelf stability, necessarily on a case-specific basis. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Massom, RA Giles, AB Warner, RC Fricker, HA Legresy, B Hyland, G Lescarmontier, L Young, N |
author_facet |
Massom, RA Giles, AB Warner, RC Fricker, HA Legresy, B Hyland, G Lescarmontier, L Young, N |
author_sort |
Massom, RA |
title |
External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 |
title_short |
External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 |
title_full |
External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 |
title_fullStr |
External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 |
title_full_unstemmed |
External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 |
title_sort |
external influences on the mertz glacier tongue (east antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010 |
publisher |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003223 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/100218 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(144.500,144.500,-67.667,-67.667) ENVELOPE(145.500,145.500,-67.167,-67.167) |
geographic |
East Antarctica Mertz Glacier Mertz Glacier Tongue |
geographic_facet |
East Antarctica Mertz Glacier Mertz Glacier Tongue |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Mertz Glacier |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Mertz Glacier |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/100218/1/Massom_2015_Mertz_calving.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003223 Massom, RA and Giles, AB and Warner, RC and Fricker, HA and Legresy, B and Hyland, G and Lescarmontier, L and Young, N, External influences on the Mertz Glacier Tongue (East Antarctica) in the decade leading up to its calving in 2010, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 120, (3) pp. 490-506. ISSN 2169-9003 (2015) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/100218 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003223 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
container_volume |
120 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
490 |
op_container_end_page |
506 |
_version_ |
1766274058047979520 |