Constraining an Ocean Model Under Getz Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Using A Gravity‐Derived Bathymetry
Getz Ice Shelf, the largest producer of ice shelf meltwater in Antarctica, buttresses glaciers that hold enough ice to raise sea level by 22 cm. We present a new bathymetry of its sub‐ice shelf cavity using a three‐dimensional inversion of airborne gravity data constrained by multibeam bathymetry at...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | unknown |
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W&M ScholarWorks
2020
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| Online Access: | https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsarticles/1950 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086522; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/context/vimsarticles/article/2949/viewcontent/2019GL086522.pdf https://scholarworks.wm.edu/context/vimsarticles/article/2949/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/grl60721_sup_0001_figure_si_s01.pdf |
| Summary: | Getz Ice Shelf, the largest producer of ice shelf meltwater in Antarctica, buttresses glaciers that hold enough ice to raise sea level by 22 cm. We present a new bathymetry of its sub‐ice shelf cavity using a three‐dimensional inversion of airborne gravity data constrained by multibeam bathymetry at sea and a reconstruction of the bedrock from mass conservation on land. The new bathymetry is deeper than previously estimated with differences exceeding 500 m in a number of regions. When incorporated into an ocean model, it yields a better description of the spatial distribution of ice shelf melt, specifically along glacier grounding lines. While the melt intensity is overestimated because of a positive bias in ocean thermal forcing, the study reveals the main pathways along which warm oceanic water enters the cavity and corroborates the observed rapid retreat of Berry Glacier along a deep channel with a retrograde bed slope. |
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