Continent-wide mapping shows increasing sensitivity of East Antarctica to meltwater ponding
Tuckett, Peter A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9953-2602; Sole, Andrew J.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5290-8967; Livingstone, Stephen J.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7240-5037; Jones, Julie M.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2892-8647; Lea, James M.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1885-0858; Gilbert, Ella
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5272-8894.
2025
Continent-wide mapping shows increasing sensitivity of East Antarctica to meltwater ponding.
Nature Climate Change, 15.
775-783.
10.1038/s41558-025-02363-5
Preview |
Text (Open Access)
© The Author(s) 2025 s41558-025-02363-5.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (8MB) | Preview |
Abstract/Summary
Surface meltwater is predicted to become increasingly important for Antarctic mass loss as atmospheric temperatures rise, due to its potential to influence ice dynamic, hydrofracture and radiative processes. However, our understanding of Antarctic surface meltwater is limited, with previous studies restricted in spatial or temporal scope. Here, using cloud computing, we produce an Antarctic-wide, monthly dataset of surface meltwater for 2006 to 2021. Surface meltwater covered 3,732 km 2 across Antarctica on average during each melt season, with 30% on grounded ice. High interannual variability in meltwater area across the Antarctic Peninsula and in East Antarctica correlates with large-scale modes of climate variability. In west Antarctica, meltwater area is comparatively low and this correlation is absent. An increase in the magnitude and variability of surface meltwater area without a coincident increase in modelled snowmelt in East Antarctica indicates that the ice-sheet surface might be becoming more favourable to meltwater ponding.
Item Type: | Publication - Article |
---|---|
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | 10.1038/s41558-025-02363-5 |
ISSN: | 1758-678X |
Additional Keywords: | Climate change, Cryospheric science |
Date made live: | 08 Jul 2025 12:29 +0 (UTC) |
URI: | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539807 |
Actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |
Document Downloads
Downloads for past 30 days
Downloads per month over past year