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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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128201 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:128201 2023-05-15T16:41:49+02:00 Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing Greene, CA Young, DA Gwyther, DE Galton-Fenzi, BK Blankenship, DD 2018 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128201 en eng Copernicus GmbH http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128201/1/tc greene 2018.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 Greene, CA and Young, DA and Gwyther, DE and Galton-Fenzi, BK and Blankenship, DD, Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing, The Cryosphere, 12, (9) pp. 2869-2882. ISSN 1994-0416 (2018) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128201 Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical oceanography Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 2022-08-29T22:17:26Z 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 100myr −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 The Cryosphere Totten Ice Shelf eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) The Cryosphere 12 9 2869 2882 |
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Open Polar |
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eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical oceanography Greene, CA Young, DA Gwyther, DE Galton-Fenzi, BK Blankenship, DD Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Oceanography Physical oceanography |
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 100myr −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, CA Young, DA Gwyther, DE Galton-Fenzi, BK Blankenship, DD |
author_facet |
Greene, CA Young, DA Gwyther, DE Galton-Fenzi, BK Blankenship, DD |
author_sort |
Greene, CA |
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 GmbH |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128201 |
genre |
Ice Shelf Sea ice The Cryosphere Totten Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Ice Shelf Sea ice The Cryosphere Totten Ice Shelf |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128201/1/tc greene 2018.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 Greene, CA and Young, DA and Gwyther, DE and Galton-Fenzi, BK and Blankenship, DD, Seasonal dynamics of Totten Ice Shelf controlled by sea ice buttressing, The Cryosphere, 12, (9) pp. 2869-2882. ISSN 1994-0416 (2018) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/128201 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2869-2018 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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12 |
container_issue |
9 |
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2869 |
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2882 |
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1766032291688087552 |