Sensitivity of Pine Island Glacier to observed ocean forcing
Christianson, Knut; Bushuk, Mitchell; Dutrieux, Pierre; Parizek, Byron R.; Joughin, Ian R.; Alley, Richard B.; Shean, David E.; Abrahamsen, E. Povl ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5924-5350; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Heywood, Karen J.; Kim, Tae-Wan; Lee, Sang-Hoon; Nicholls, Keith ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2188-4509; Stanton, Tim; Truffer, Martin; Webber, Benjamin G.M.; Jenkins, Adrian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9117-0616; Jacobs, Stan; Bindschadler, Robert; Holland, David M.. 2016 Sensitivity of Pine Island Glacier to observed ocean forcing. Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (20). 10817-10825. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070500
Before downloading, please read NORA policies.
|
Text
Copyright American Geophysical Union grl55127.pdf - Published Version Download (4MB) | Preview |
Abstract/Summary
We present subannual observations (2009–2014) of a major West Antarctic glacier (Pine Island Glacier) and the neighboring ocean. Ongoing glacier retreat and accelerated ice flow were likely triggered a few decades ago by increased ocean-induced thinning, which may have initiated marine ice-sheet instability. Following a subsequent 60% drop in ocean heat content from early 2012 to late 2013, ice flow slowed, but by < 4%, with flow recovering as the ocean warmed to prior temperatures. During this cold-ocean period, the evolving glacier-bed/ice-shelf system was also in a geometry favorable to stabilization. However, despite a minor, temporary decrease in ice discharge, the basin-wide thinning signal did not change. Thus, as predicted by theory, once marine ice-sheet instability is underway, a single transient high-amplitude ocean cooling has only a relatively minor effect on ice flow. The long-term effects of ocean-temperature variability on ice flow, however, are not yet known.
Item Type: | Publication - Article |
---|---|
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070500 |
Programmes: | BAS Programmes > BAS Programmes 2015 > Polar Oceans |
ISSN: | 0094-8276 |
Additional Keywords: | glacier-ocean interaction, ice streams, ice shelves, marine ice-sheet instability, ice dynamics |
Date made live: | 25 Oct 2016 09:42 +0 (UTC) |
URI: | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513477 |
Actions (login required)
View Item |
Document Downloads
Downloads for past 30 days
Downloads per month over past year