Channelized Ice Melting in the Ocean Boundary Layer Beneath Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica
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Material Information

Title:
Channelized Ice Melting in the Ocean Boundary Layer Beneath Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica
Series Title:
Science Magazine Volume 431, Issue 1236
Creator:
Stanton, T.P.
Shaw, W.J.
Truffer, M.
Corr, H.F.J.
Peters, L.E.
Riverman, K.L.
Bindschadler, R.
Holland, D.M.
Anandakrishnan, S.
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Publication Date:
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Climate Change ( lcsh )
Antarctica ( lcsh )
Ice Melting ( lcsh )

Notes

Abstract:
Ice shelves play a key role in the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheets by buttressing their seaward flowing outlet glaciers; however, they are exposed to the underlying ocean and may weaken if ocean thermal forcing increases. An expedition to the ice shelf of the remote Pine Island Glacier, a major outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that has rapidly thinned and accelerated in recent decades, has been completed. Observations from geophysical surveys and long-term oceanographic instruments deployed down bore holes into the ocean cavity reveal a buoyancy-driven boundary layer within a basal channel that melts the channel apex by 0.06 meter per day, with near-zero melt rates along the flanks of the channel. A complex pattern of such channels is visible throughout the Pine Island Glacier shelf. ( English )

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
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