Constraining past accumulation in the central Pine Island Glacier basin, West Antarctica, using radio-echo sounding

Karlsson, Nanna B.; Bingham, Robert G.; Rippin, David M.; Hindmarsh, Richard C.A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1633-2416; Corr, Hugh F.J.; Vaughan, David G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9065-0570. 2014 Constraining past accumulation in the central Pine Island Glacier basin, West Antarctica, using radio-echo sounding. Journal of Glaciology, 60 (221). 553-562. https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13j180

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Abstract/Summary

The potential for future dynamical instability of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, has been addressed in a number of studies, but information on its past remains limited. In this study we use airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) data acquired over Pine Island Glacier to investigate past variations in accumulation pattern. In the dataset a distinctive pattern of layers was identified in the central part of the glacier basin.We use these layers as chronological identifiers in order to construct elevation maps of the internal stratigraphy. The observed internal layer stratigraphy is then compared to calculated stratigraphy from a three-dimensional ice-flow model that has been forced with different accumulation scenarios. The model results indicate that the accumulation pattern is likely to have changed at least twice since the deposition of the deepest identified layer. Additional RES data linked to the Byrd ice core provide an approximate timescale. This timescale suggests that the layers were deposited at the beginning of or during the Holocene period. Thus the widespread changes occurring in the coastal extent of theWest Antarctic ice sheet at the end of the last glacial period could have been accompanied by changes in accumulation pattern.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13j180
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Polar Science for Planet Earth (2009 - ) > Ice Sheets
ISSN:	00221430
Additional Keywords:	Antarctic glaciology, ground-penetrating radar, ice-sheet modelling, radio-echo sounding
Date made live:	09 Jun 2014 12:10 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/507389

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