Gourmelen, N, Goldberg, DN, Snow, K et al. (9 more authors) (2017) Channelized Melting Drives Thinning Under a Rapidly Melting Antarctic Ice Shelf. Geophysical Research Letters, 44 (19). pp. 9796-9804. ISSN 0094-8276
Abstract
Ice shelves play a vital role in regulating loss of grounded ice and in supplying freshwater to coastal seas. However, melt variability within ice shelves is poorly constrained and may be instrumental in driving ice shelf imbalance and collapse. High-resolution altimetry measurements from 2010 to 2016 show that Dotson Ice Shelf (DIS), West Antarctica, thins in response to basal melting focused along a single 5 km-wide and 60 km-long channel extending from the ice shelf's grounding zone to its calving front. If focused thinning continues at present rates, the channel will melt through, and the ice shelf collapse, within 40-50 years, almost two centuries before collapse is projected from the average thinning rate. Our findings provide evidence of basal melt-driven sub-ice shelf channel formation and its potential for accelerating the weakening of ice shelves.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number European Space Agency No External Ref European Space Agency No External Ref |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 01 Nov 2017 13:05 |
Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2017 13:05 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/2017GL074929 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:123361 |