Sensitivity of Pine Island Glacier to observed ocean forcing

Christianson, Knut; Bushuk, Mitchell; Dutrieux, Pierre; Parizek, Byron R.; Joughin, Ian R.; Alley, Richard B.; Shean, David E.; Abrahamsen, E. Povl; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar; Heywood, Karen J.; Kim, Tae‐Wan; Lee, Sang Hoon; Nicholls, Keith; Stanton, Tim; Truffer, Martin; Webber, Benjamin G. M.; Jenkins, Adrian; Jacobs, Stan; Bindschadler, Robert; Holland, David M.

doi:10.1002/2016GL070500

i

Sensitivity of Pine Island Glacier to observed ocean forcing

2016
By Christianson, Knut ; Bushuk, Mitchell ; Dutrieux, Pierre ; ...

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Journal Title:

Geophysical Research Letters
Personal Author:

Christianson, Knut ; Bushuk, Mitchell ; Dutrieux, Pierre ; Parizek, Byron R. ; Joughin, Ian R. ; Alley, Richard B. ; Shean, David E. ; Abrahamsen, E. Povl ; Anandakrishnan, Sridhar ; Heywood, Karen J. ; Kim, Tae‐Wan ; Lee, Sang Hoon ; Nicholls, Keith ; Stanton, Tim ; Truffer, Martin ; Webber, Benjamin G. M. ; Jenkins, Adrian ; Jacobs, Stan ; Bindschadler, Robert ; Holland, David M.
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory)
Description:

We present subannual observations (2009–2014) of a major West Antarctic glacier (Pine Island Glacier) and the neighboring ocean. Ongoing glacier retreat and accelerated ice flow were likely triggered a few decades ago by increased ocean-induced thinning, which may have initiated marine ice sheet instability. Following a subsequent 60% drop in ocean heat content from early 2012 to late 2013, ice flow slowed, but by < 4%, with flow recovering as the ocean warmed to prior temperatures. During this cold-ocean period, the evolving glacier-bed/ice shelf system was also in a geometry favorable to stabilization. However, despite a minor, temporary decrease in ice discharge, the basin-wide thinning signal did not change. Thus, as predicted by theory, once marine ice sheet instability is underway, a single transient high-amplitude ocean cooling has only a relatively minor effect on ice flow. The long-term effects of ocean temperature variability on ice flow, however, are not yet known.
Keywords:

Pine Island Glacier (Antarctica) Glacier‐ocean Interactions Ice Dynamics Ice Shelves Ice Streams Marine Ice Sheet Instability
Source:

Geophysical Research Letters, 43(20), 10,817-10,825
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070500
Document Type:

Journal Article
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Other
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Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:7670387129e8cd3f5f5cc9c1455353ac61b3c0b0af8a8be3b9a28fca057b225f
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https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/29607/noaa_29607_DS1.pdf
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[PDF - 3.87 MB ]

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