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Abstract A set of collocated, in situ oceanographic and glaciological measurements from Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf, Greenland, provides insights into the dynamics of under‐ice flow driving basal melting. At a site 16 km seaward of the grounding line within a longitudinal basal channel, two conductivity‐temperature (CT) sensors beneath the ice base and a phase‐sensitive radar on the ice surface were used to monitor the coupled ice shelf‐ocean system. A 6 month time series spanning 23 August 2015 to 12 February 2016 exhibited two distinct periods of ice‐ocean interactions. Between August and December, radar‐derived basal melt rates featured fortnightly peaks of∼15 m yr−1which preceded the arrival of cold and fresh pulses in the ocean that had high concentrations of subglacial runoff and glacial meltwater. Estimated current speeds reached 0.20 – 0.40 m s−1during these pulses, consistent with a strengthened meltwater plume from freshwater enrichment. Such signals did not occur between December and February, when ice‐ocean interactions instead varied at principal diurnal and semidiurnal tidal frequencies, and lower melt rates and current speeds prevailed. A combination of estimated current speeds and meltwater concentrations from the two CT sensors yields estimates of subglacial runoff and glacial meltwater volume fluxes that vary between 10 and 80 m3 s−1during the ocean pulses. Area‐average upstream ice shelf melt rates from these fluxes are up to 170 m yr−1, revealing that these strengthened plumes had already driven their most intense melting before arriving at the study site.
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Rapid Formation of an Ice Doline on Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica
Abstract Surface meltwater accumulating on Antarctic ice shelves can drive fractures through to the ocean and potentially cause their collapse, leading to increased ice discharge from the continent. Implications of increasing surface melt for future ice shelf stability are inadequately understood. The southern Amery Ice Shelf has an extensive surface hydrological system, and we present data from satellite imagery and ICESat‐2 showing a rapid surface disruption there in winter 2019, covering ∼60 km2. We interpret this as an ice‐covered lake draining through the ice shelf, forming an ice doline with a central depression reaching 80 m depth amidst over 36 m uplift. Flexural rebound modeling suggests 0.75 km3of water was lost. We observed transient refilling of the doline the following summer with rapid incision of a narrow meltwater channel (20 m wide and 6 m deep). This study demonstrates how high‐resolution geodetic measurements can explore critical fine‐scale ice shelf processes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1743310
- PAR ID:
- 10375186
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 48
- Issue:
- 14
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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