Multi-decadal glacier surface lowering in the Antarctic Peninsula

From approximately 400 glaciers of the westernAntarctic Peninsula, no in situ records of mass balance existand their recent contribution to sea level is consequentlypoorly constrained. We seek to address this shortcoming byusing surface elevations from USGS and BAS airborne(1948-2005) and ASTER spac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Kunz, M, King, MA, Mills, JP, Miller, PE, Fox, AJ, Vaughan, DG, Marsh, SH
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Amer Geophysical Union 2012
Subjects:
Earth Sciences
Geophysics
Geodesy
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL052823
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/89650
Description
Summary:From approximately 400 glaciers of the westernAntarctic Peninsula, no in situ records of mass balance existand their recent contribution to sea level is consequentlypoorly constrained. We seek to address this shortcoming byusing surface elevations from USGS and BAS airborne(1948-2005) and ASTER spaceborne (2001-2010) stereoimagery, combined by using a rigorous semi-automatedregistration approach, to determine multi-decadal glaciersurface elevation changes in the western Antarctic Peninsulafor 12 glaciers. All observed glaciers show near-frontalsurface lowering and an annual mean lowering rate of0.28 +- 0.03 m/yr at the lower portion of the glaciers duringthe ~4 decades following the mid-1960s, with higher ratesfor the glaciers in the north-west parts of the AntarcticPeninsula. Increased lowering of up to 0.6 m/yr can beobserved since the 1990s, in close correspondence toincreased atmospheric positive degree days. In all cases,surface lowering reduces to zero within 5 km of the glacierfront at around 400 m altitude. This lowering may havebeen at least partially compensated for by increased high-altitudeaccumulation.

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