Deriving melt rates at a complex ice shelf base using in-situ radar: Application to Totten Ice Shelf

Vaňková, Irena ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4351-3781; Cook, Sue; Winberry, Jeremy; Nicholls, Keith W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2188-4509; Galton-Fenzi, Benjamin K.. 2021 Deriving melt rates at a complex ice shelf base using in-situ radar: Application to Totten Ice Shelf. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (7), e2021GL092692. 10, pp. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092692

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Official URL: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.102...

Abstract/Summary

A phase‐sensitive radar (ApRES) was deployed on Totten Ice Shelf to provide the first in‐situ basal melt estimate at this dynamic East Antarctic ice shelf. Observations of internal ice dynamics at tidal timescales showed that early arrivals from off‐nadir reflectors obscure the true depth of the ice shelf base. Using the observed tidal deformation, the true base was was found to lie at 1910‐1950 m depth, at 350‐400 m greater range than the first reflection from an ice‐ocean interface. The robustness of the basal melt rate estimate was increased by using multiple basal reflections over the radar footprint, yielding a melt rate of 22 ± 2.1 m a−1. The ApRES estimate is over 40% lower than the three existing satellite estimates covering Totten Ice Shelf. This difference in basal melt is dynamically significant and highlights the need for independent melt rate estimates using complementary instrumentation and techniques that rely on different sets of assumptions.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092692
ISSN:	0094-8276
Additional Keywords:	ApRES, Ice shelves, Basal melt, ground‐based radar, Totten
Date made live:	17 Mar 2021 11:35 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529792

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092692

ISSN:

0094-8276

Additional Keywords:

ApRES, Ice shelves, Basal melt, ground‐based radar, Totten

Date made live:

17 Mar 2021 11:35 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529792