Journal articles on the topic 'Ice shelf channel'
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1
Drews, R. "Evolution of ice-shelf channels in Antarctic ice shelves." Cryosphere 9, no. 3 (June 4, 2015): 1169–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1169-2015.
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Abstract. Ice shelves buttress the continental ice flux and mediate ice–ocean interactions. They are often traversed by channels in which basal melting is enhanced, impacting ice-shelf stability. Here, channel evolution is investigated using a transient, three-dimensional full Stokes model and geophysical data collected on the Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (RBIS), Antarctica. The modeling confirms basal melting as a feasible mechanism for channel creation, although channels may also advect without melting for many tens of kilometers. Channels can be out of hydrostatic equilibrium depending on their width and the upstream melt history. Inverting surface elevation for ice thickness using hydrostatic equilibrium in those areas is erroneous, and corresponding observational evidence is presented at RBIS by comparing the hydrostatically inverted ice thickness with radar measurements. The model shows that channelized melting imprints the flow field characteristically, which can result in enhanced horizontal shearing across channels. This is exemplified for a channel at RBIS using observed surface velocities and opens up the possibility to classify channelized melting from space, an important step towards incorporating these effects in ice–ocean models.
2
Drews, R. "Evolution of ice-shelf channels in Antarctic ice shelves." Cryosphere Discussions 9, no. 2 (March 13, 2015): 1603–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-1603-2015.
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Abstract. Ice shelves buttress the continental ice flux and mediate ice–ocean interactions. They are often traversed by channels in which basal melting is enhanced, impacting ice-shelf stability. Here, channel evolution is investigated using a transient, three-dimensional full Stokes model and geophysical data collected on Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (RBIS), Antarctica. The modeling confirms basal melting as a feasible mechanism for channel creation, although channels may also advect without melting for many tens of kilometers. Channels can be out of hydrostatic equilibrium depending on their width and the upstream melt history. Inverting surface elevation for ice thickness in those areas is erroneous and corresponding observational evidence is presented at RBIS by comparing the hydrostatically inverted ice thickness with radar measurements. The model shows that channelized melting imprints the flowfield characteristically, which can result in enhanced horizontal shearing across channels. This is exemplified for a channel at RBIS using observed surface velocities and opens up the possibility to classify channelized melting from space, an important step towards incorporating these effects in ice–ocean models.
3
Wang, Zemin, Xiangyu Song, Baojun Zhang, Tingting Liu, and Hong Geng. "Basal Channel Extraction and Variation Analysis of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Ice Shelf in Greenland." Remote Sensing 12, no. 9 (May 6, 2020): 1474. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs12091474.
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The ice shelf controls the ice flow and affects the rates of sea level rise. Its stability is affected by the basal channel to some extent. However, despite its importance, high spatiotemporal variation in the length of the basal channels and influencing factors remain poorly characterized. Here, we present evidence from satellite and airborne remote-sensing for the basal channel beneath the floating Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79 North Glacier) ice shelf in Northeast Greenland. We observe the surface depression of the ice shelf using IceBridge, which is an ongoing NASA mission to monitor changes in polar ice. We find that the basal channel corresponds with the depression. Temporal and spatial changes of the basal channels from 2000 to 2018 are obtained annually. The results show that the main influencing factor affecting the basal channel is the sea surface temperature (SST), and the major area of the channel length change is found in the midstream area of the ice shelf.
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Gladish, Carl V., David M. Holland, Paul R. Holland, and Stephen F. Price. "Ice-shelf basal channels in a coupled ice/ocean model." Journal of Glaciology 58, no. 212 (2012): 1227–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2012jog12j003.
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AbstractA numerical model for an interacting ice shelf and ocean is presented in which the ice- shelf base exhibits a channelized morphology similar to that observed beneath Petermann Gletscher’s (Greenland) floating ice shelf. Channels are initiated by irregularities in the ice along the grounding line and then enlarged by ocean melting. To a first approximation, spatially variable basal melting seaward of the grounding line acts as a steel-rule die or a stencil, imparting a channelized form to the ice base as it passes by. Ocean circulation in the region of high melt is inertial in the along-channel direction and geostrophically balanced in the transverse direction. Melt rates depend on the wavelength of imposed variations in ice thickness where it enters the shelf, with shorter wavelengths reducing overall melting. Petermann Gletscher’s narrow basal channels may therefore act to preserve the ice shelf against excessive melting. Overall melting in the model increases for a warming of the subsurface water. The same sensitivity holds for very slight cooling, but for cooling of a few tenths of a degree a reorganization of the spatial pattern of melting leads, surprisingly, to catastrophic thinning of the ice shelf 12 km from the grounding line. Subglacial discharge of fresh water along the grounding line increases overall melting. The eventual steady state depends on when discharge is initiated in the transient history of the ice, showing that multiple steady states of the coupled system exist in general.
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Humbert, Angelika, Julia Christmann, Hugh F. J. Corr, Veit Helm, Lea-Sophie Höyns, Coen Hofstede, Ralf Müller, et al. "On the evolution of an ice shelf melt channel at the base of Filchner Ice Shelf, from observations and viscoelastic modeling." Cryosphere 16, no. 10 (October 10, 2022): 4107–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4107-2022.
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Abstract. Ice shelves play a key role in the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet due to their buttressing effect. A loss of buttressing as a result of increased basal melting or ice shelf disintegration will lead to increased ice discharge. Some ice shelves exhibit channels at the base that are not yet fully understood. In this study, we present in situ melt rates of a channel which is up to 330 m high and located in the southern Filchner Ice Shelf. Maximum observed melt rates are 2 m yr−1. Melt rates inside the channel decrease in the direction of ice flow and turn to freezing ∼55 km downstream of the grounding line. While closer to the grounding line melt rates are higher within the channel than outside, this relationship reverses further downstream. Comparing the modeled evolution of this channel under present-day climate conditions over 250 years with its present geometry reveals a mismatch. Melt rates twice as large as the present-day values are required to fit the observed geometry. In contrast, forcing the model with present-day melt rates results in a closure of the channel, which contradicts observations. The ice shelf experiences strong tidal variability in vertical strain rates at the measured site, and discrete pulses of increased melting occurred throughout the measurement period. The type of melt channel in this study diminishes in height with distance from the grounding line and is hence not a destabilizing factor for ice shelves.
6
Hofstede, Coen, Sebastian Beyer, Hugh Corr, Olaf Eisen, Tore Hattermann, Veit Helm, Niklas Neckel, et al. "Evidence for a grounding line fan at the onset of a basal channel under the ice shelf of Support Force Glacier, Antarctica, revealed by reflection seismics." Cryosphere 15, no. 3 (March 25, 2021): 1517–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1517-2021.
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Abstract. Curvilinear channels on the surface of an ice shelf indicate the presence of large channels at the base. Modelling studies have shown that where these surface expressions intersect the grounding line, they coincide with the likely outflow of subglacial water. An understanding of the initiation and the ice–ocean evolution of the basal channels is required to understand the present behaviour and future dynamics of ice sheets and ice shelves. Here, we present focused active seismic and radar surveys of a basal channel, ∼950 m wide and ∼200 m high, and its upstream continuation beneath Support Force Glacier, which feeds into the Filchner Ice Shelf, West Antarctica. Immediately seaward from the grounding line, below the basal channel, the seismic profiles show an ∼6.75 km long, 3.2 km wide and 200 m thick sedimentary sequence with chaotic to weakly stratified reflections we interpret as a grounding line fan deposited by a subglacial drainage channel directly upstream of the basal channel. Further downstream the seabed has a different character; it consists of harder, stratified consolidated sediments, deposited under different glaciological circumstances, or possibly bedrock. In contrast to the standard perception of a rapid change in ice shelf thickness just downstream of the grounding line, we find a flat topography of the ice shelf base with an almost constant ice thickness gradient along-flow, indicating only little basal melting, but an initial widening of the basal channel, which we ascribe to melting along its flanks. Our findings provide a detailed view of a more complex interaction between the ocean and subglacial hydrology to form basal channels in ice shelves.
7
Dallaston, M. C., I. J. Hewitt, and A. J. Wells. "Channelization of plumes beneath ice shelves." Journal of Fluid Mechanics 785 (November 11, 2015): 109–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2015.609.
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We study a simplified model of ice–ocean interaction beneath a floating ice shelf, and investigate the possibility for channels to form in the ice shelf base due to spatial variations in conditions at the grounding line. The model combines an extensional thin-film description of viscous ice flow in the shelf, with melting at its base driven by a turbulent ocean plume. Small transverse perturbations to the one-dimensional steady state are considered, driven either by ice thickness or subglacial discharge variations across the grounding line. Either forcing leads to the growth of channels downstream, with melting driven by locally enhanced ocean velocities, and thus heat transfer. Narrow channels are smoothed out due to turbulent mixing in the ocean plume, leading to a preferred wavelength for channel growth. In the absence of perturbations at the grounding line, linear stability analysis suggests that the one-dimensional state is stable to initial perturbations, chiefly due to the background ice advection.
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Mathews, William H. "Ice Sheets and Ice Streams: Thoughts on the Cordilleran Ice Sheet Symposium." Géographie physique et Quaternaire 45, no. 3 (December 13, 2007): 263–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/032873ar.
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ABSTRACT This paper comments on preconceptions about what is meant by the terms "Cordilleran Ice Sheet" and "ice stream". Contemporary Antarctic ice streams are described. The Laurentian Channel and throughs crossing the continental ice shelf between Vancouver and Queens Charlotte Islands are suggested as candidates for the tracks of past ice streams.
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Drews, Reinhard, Joel Brown, Kenichi Matsuoka, Emmanuel Witrant, Morgane Philippe, Bryn Hubbard, and Frank Pattyn. "Constraining variable density of ice shelves using wide-angle radar measurements." Cryosphere 10, no. 2 (April 15, 2016): 811–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-811-2016.
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Abstract. The thickness of ice shelves, a basic parameter for mass balance estimates, is typically inferred using hydrostatic equilibrium, for which knowledge of the depth-averaged density is essential. The densification from snow to ice depends on a number of local factors (e.g., temperature and surface mass balance) causing spatial and temporal variations in density–depth profiles. However, direct measurements of firn density are sparse, requiring substantial logistical effort. Here, we infer density from radio-wave propagation speed using ground-based wide-angle radar data sets (10 MHz) collected at five sites on Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (RBIS), Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. We reconstruct depth to internal reflectors, local ice thickness, and firn-air content using a novel algorithm that includes traveltime inversion and ray tracing with a prescribed shape of the depth–density relationship. For the particular case of an ice-shelf channel, where ice thickness and surface slope change substantially over a few kilometers, the radar data suggest that firn inside the channel is about 5 % denser than outside the channel. Although this density difference is at the detection limit of the radar, it is consistent with a similar density anomaly reconstructed from optical televiewing, which reveals that the firn inside the channel is 4.7 % denser than that outside the channel. Hydrostatic ice thickness calculations used for determining basal melt rates should account for the denser firn in ice-shelf channels. The radar method presented here is robust and can easily be adapted to different radar frequencies and data-acquisition geometries.
10
Münchow, Andreas, Laurie Padman, and Helen A. Fricker. "Interannual changes of the floating ice shelf of Petermann Gletscher, North Greenland, from 2000 to 2012." Journal of Glaciology 60, no. 221 (2014): 489–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2014jog13j135.
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AbstractPetermann Gletscher, northwest Greenland, drains 4% of the Greenland ice sheet into Nares Strait. Its floating ice shelf retreated from 81 to 48 km in length during two large calving events in 2010 and 2012. We document changes in the three-dimensional ice-shelf structure from 2000 to 2012, using repeated tracks of airborne laser altimetry and ice radio-echo sounding, ICESat laser altimetry and MODIS visible imagery. The recent ice-shelf velocity, measured by tracking surface features between flights in 2010 and 2011, is ~1.25 km a−1, ~15–30% faster than estimates made before 2010. The steady- state along-flow ice divergence represents 6.3 Gta−1 mass loss through basal melting (~5Gta−1) and surface melting and sublimation (~1.0Gta−1). Airborne laser altimeter data reveal thinning, both along a thin central channel and on the thicker ambient ice shelf. From 2007 to 2010 the ice shelf thinned by ~5 m a−1, which represents a non-steady mass loss of ~4.1 Gta−1. We suggest that thinning in the basal channels structurally weakened the ice shelf and may have played a role in the recent calving events.
11
Wang, Haozhuang, Zhihua Chen, Kunshan Wang, Helin Liu, Zheng Tang, and Yuanhui Huang. "Characteristics of heavy minerals and grain size of surface sediments on the continental shelf of Prydz Bay: implications for sediment provenance." Antarctic Science 28, no. 2 (November 24, 2015): 103–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102015000498.
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AbstractData on grain size and heavy mineral composition for surface sediments on the Prydz Bay continental shelf was analysed to identify sediment features and provenance. The grain size composition of surface sediments indicate spatial variations in the glaciomarine environment and the key factors influencing sedimentation, which on the shelf include topography/water depth, currents and icebergs. The study area was divided into two sections by Q-type factor analysis: section I included Prydz Channel, Amery Basin and Svenner Channel, and section II included Four Ladies Bank, Fram Bank and the area in front of the Amery Ice Shelf. Sedimentation in section I is mainly controlled by currents and topography/water depth. However, in section II, icebergs/floating ice masses, the Amery Ice Shelf and currents have prominent effects on sedimentation. The heavy mineral composition indicates that surface sediments on the eastern side of the bay, including Four Ladies Bank, are primarily derived from Princess Elizabeth Land. Sediments in the area in front of the Amery Ice Shelf, Svenner Channel, Amery Basin and Prydz Channel have a mixed source from the eastern regions around the bay, including the Prince Charles Mountains and Princess Elizabeth Land. The contribution from Mac. Robertson Land to sediment at Fram Bank is limited.
12
Smith, James A., Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Robert D. Larter, Alastair G. C. Graham, and Gerhard Kuhn. "The sediment infill of subglacial meltwater channels on the West Antarctic continental shelf." Quaternary Research 71, no. 2 (March 2009): 190–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2008.11.005.
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AbstractSubglacial meltwater plays a significant yet poorly understood role in the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheets. Here we present new swath bathymetry from the western Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, showing meltwater channels eroded into acoustic basement. Their morphological characteristics and size are consistent with incision by subglacial meltwater. To understand how and when these channels formed we have investigated the infill of three channels. Diamictons deposited beneath or proximal to an expanded grounded West Antarctic Ice Sheet are present in two of the channels and these are overlain by glaciomarine sediments deposited after deglaciation. The sediment core from the third channel recovered a turbidite sequence also deposited after the last deglaciation. The presence of deformation till at one core site and the absence of typical meltwater deposits (e.g., sorted sands and gravels) in all three cores suggest that channel incision pre-dates overriding by fast flowing grounded ice during the last glacial period. Given the overall scale of the channels and their incision into bedrock, it is likely that the channels formed over multiple glaciations, possibly since the Miocene, and have been reoccupied on several occasions. This also implies that the channels have survived numerous advances and retreats of grounded ice.
13
Pudsey, Carol J., Jeffrey Evans, Eugene W. Domack, Peter Morris, and Rodolfo A. Del Valle. "Bathymetry and acoustic facies beneath the former Larsen-A and Prince Gustav ice shelves, north-west Weddell Sea." Antarctic Science 13, no. 3 (September 2001): 312–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095410200100044x.
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We present preliminary results of the first detailied surveys of the former Larsen-A Ice Shelf, Larsen Inlet and southern Prince Gustav Channel, where disintegration of small ice shelves in the past ten years has exposed the seafloor. Glacial troughs in the Larsen-A area, Larsen Inlet and Prince Gustav Channel reach 900–1100 m depth and have hummocky floors. Farther south-east, the continental shelf is shallower (400–500 m) and its surface is fluted to smooth, with the density of iceberg furrowing increasing towards the shelf edge. Acoustic profiles show a drape of transparent sediment 4–8 m thick in Prince Gustav Channel, thinning southwards. In cores, this drape corresponds to diatom-bearing marine and glacial-marine mud. In the Larsen-A area and Larsen Inlet, acoustically opaque sediment includes proximal ice shelf glaciomarine gravelly and sandy muds, and firm to stiff diamicts probably deposited subglacilly. These are overlain by thin (up to 1.3 m) glaciomarine muds, locally with distinctive diatom ooze laminae.
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Drews, R., J. Brown, K. Matsuoka, E. Witrant, M. Philippe, B. Hubbard, and F. Pattyn. "Anomalously-dense firn in an ice-shelf channel revealed by wide-angle radar." Cryosphere Discussions 9, no. 5 (October 21, 2015): 5647–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-5647-2015.
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Abstract. The thickness of ice shelves, a basic parameter for mass balance estimates, is typically inferred using hydrostatic equilibrium for which knowledge of the depth-averaged density is essential. The densification from snow to ice depends on a number of local factors (e.g. temperature and surface mass balance) causing spatial and temporal variations in density–depth profiles. However, direct measurements of firn density are sparse, requiring substantial logistical effort. Here, we infer density from radio-wave propagation speed using ground-based wide-angle radar datasets (10 MHz) collected at five sites on Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (RBIS), Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Using a novel algorithm including traveltime inversion and raytracing with a prescribed shape of the depth–density relationship, we show that the depth to internal reflectors, the local ice thickness and depth-averaged densities can reliably be reconstructed. For the particular case of an ice-shelf channel, where ice thickness and surface slope change substantially over a few kilometers, the radar data suggests that firn inside the channel is about 5 % denser than outside the channel. Although this density difference is at the detection limit of the radar, it is consistent with a similar density anomaly reconstructed from optical televiewing, which reveals 10 % denser firn inside compared to outside the channel. The denser firn in the ice-shelf channel should be accounted for when using the hydrostatic ice thickness for determining basal melt rates. The radar method presented here is robust and can easily be adapted to different radar frequencies and data-acquisition geometries.
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Hellmer, H. H., and D. J. Olbers. "On the thermohaline circulation beneath the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelves." Antarctic Science 3, no. 4 (December 1991): 433–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102091000524.
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In the Weddell Sea oceanographic data and numerical models demonstrate that Ice Shelf Water, one ingredient in the production of Weddell Sea Bottom Water, is formed by thermohaline interaction of High Salinity Shelf Water with the base of the Filchner-Ronne ice shelves. South of Berkner Island a passage with a water column thickness of about 300 m linking the Filchner and the Ronne regimes is important for the ventilation of the sub-ice shelf cavities. To simulate the flow we tested a two-dimensional thermohaline circulation model on several sections which approximate different geometries of a sub-ice shelf channel bounded by the ocean bottom and the ice shelf base. Temperature and salinity profiles measured in front of the Filchner-Ronne ice shelves are used to force the model. The results indicate that the circulation is sensitive to both salinity (density) forcing and depth of the shelf bottom prescribed at the open boundary representing the Ronne Ice Shelf edge. Where the shelf is shallow, 400 m deep, a closed circulation cell within the Ronne cavity acts like an ice pump with accumulation rates of marine ice at the ice shelf base up to 1.5 m y−1. The total outflow at the Ronne Ice Shelf edge is supported by an inflow from the Filchner regime. Where the shelf is deeper, a flow from the Ronne into the Filchner cavity develops if the bottom salinity at the Ronne Ice Shelf edge exceeds a critical value of 34.67. Seasonal variability imposed at both edges modifies the circulation pattern at the Filchner Ice Shelf edge such that the depth and magnitude of Ice Shelf Water outflow correspond with observations in the Filchner Depression.
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Fer, Ilker, Keith Makinson, and Keith W. Nicholls. "Observations of Thermohaline Convection adjacent to Brunt Ice Shelf." Journal of Physical Oceanography 42, no. 3 (March 1, 2012): 502–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-11-0211.1.
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Abstract Observations were made of ocean microstructure and horizontal currents adjacent to Brunt Ice Shelf in the southeastern Weddell Sea. Periods of in situ supercooled water extending as deep as 65 m were associated with ice nucleation and frazil formation at depth. Ascending ice crystals due to convection lead to increased dissipation rates. The main outflow of potentially supercooled water from deep beneath ice shelf is suggested to be in the deep channel northeast of the measurement site. Because this water is advected southward along the front, it becomes in situ supercooled, leading to suspended ice formation, thermohaline convection, and enhanced dissipation.
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Tison, J. L., D. Ronveaux, and R. D. Lorrain. "Low salinity frazil ice generation at the base of a small Antarctic ice shelf." Antarctic Science 5, no. 3 (September 1993): 309–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102093000409.
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Chemical, isotopic and crystallographic characteristics of marine ice formed at the base of the Hells Gate Ice Shelf, Terra Nova Bay, allow a better understanding of the dynamics of marine ice accretion under small ice shelves. The observed properties of the different types of frazil ice found in the area immediately behind the ice shelf front, result from a progressive evolution of the individual frazil ice crystals initially accreted at the base of the ice-shelf. Basal melting caused by the descending plumes of water masses at a temperature above their local freezing point, initiates partial melting of the frazil ice crystals. This dilutes the interstitial water and initiates chemical sorting effects as diffusion proceeds from the normal sea water in the free water column to the diluted interstitial water in the loose frazil layer. Different environmental conditions will result in contrasting properties. Where the subglacial interface is sculptured with domes or inverted channels, it will favour the accumulation of thick units of frazil ice, in a calm environment, that will be further protected from convection mixing over long time periods. This will result in the formation of orbicular frazil showing c-axes at random, strong dilution and important sorting effects. On the contrary, where no channel or dome exist, or where those are already filled with frazil, rectangular or wave-like banded frazil will form with properties showing interfacial streaming effects induced by water currents. Strong c-axes concentration at a single maximum, less dilution and weaker chemical sorting effects are then observed. These findings provide a tentative explanation for the apparent contradiction between the very low salinity levels detected in marine ice at the base of ice shelves and the comparatively minor salinity fluctuations in sea water profiles near ice shelves.
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Domack, Eugene, Phil O'Brien, Peter Harris, Fiona Taylor, Patrick G. Quilty, Laura De Santis, and Benjamin Raker. "Late Quaternary sediment facies in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica and their relationship to glacial advance onto the continental shelf." Antarctic Science 10, no. 3 (September 1998): 236–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102098000339.
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A marine survey in Prydz Bay, provides an unparalleled view of glacigenic and marine sedimentation across Prydz Channel and Amery Depression during the Late Quaternary. Gravity cores and a suite of eight radiocarbon dates indicate that the Late Wisconsin Glacial Maximum (LGM) was associated with grounding of a palaeo-ice shelf along the periphery of Prydz Channel. Deposition in front of the grounding line was dominated by ice-rafting. A granulated facies, containing angular clay and diamicton clasts, was producd by a combination of regelation freezing, near to the grounding line, and remelting of this basal debris in the sub-ice shelf setting. Beneath these LGM marine deposits lie two key beds of diatom ooze that are distinct in size sorting and Pliocene diatoms. These “interstadial” units can be traced across most of the Prydz Channel, and are underlain by additional glacial marine units. Debris related to the Lambert Deep is distinct from detritus from eastern Prydz Bay and deposition of these two sources within the channel oscillated during the LGM. We suggest that coastal drainage systems contributed to a limited glaciation of the shelf during the LGM, rather than direct outflow via the Lambert/Amery system. It is proposed that shelf-wide glaciation is related to the duration of glacial sea level lowstands rather than the absolute magnitude of eustatic fall during such episodes.
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Thomas, R. H. "Calving Bay dynamics and ice sheet retreat up the St. Lawrence Valley system." Dynamique et paléogéographie de l’inlandsis laurentidien 31, no. 3-4 (January 17, 2011): 347–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/1000282ar.
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Ice streams that drain marine ice sheets are particularly susceptible to catastrophic retreat because they flow through bedrock troughs, and grounding line migration would produce a calving bay filled either with an ice shelf or with icebergs. Geological evidence suggests that a calving bay formed in the Laurentian Channel and the St. Lawrence valley after the late-Wisconsin maximum. Retreat rates in this calving bay are calculated for a variety of possible models assuming that locally the late-Wisconsin Laurentide ice sheet extended to the edge of the continental shelf. If an ice shelf forms in front of the retreating grounding line, and the shear stress between the ice shelf and its margins is one bar, retreat continues for only 150 km. Further retreat requires lubrication by ice with a strain-dependent preferred crystal fabric that develops between the ice shelf and its sides, or by complete removal of the ice shelf. Under these conditions the first 300 km of retreat takes at least 3000 to 6000 years. Thereafter, further retreat is rapid until, if a lubricated ice shelf is present, a new equilibrium grounding line is established about 1100 km from the edge of the continental shelf. If massive calving of icebergs occurred at, or near the grounding line, then retreat would continue up the St. Lawrence valley through to Lake Ontario. Of the various models considered, the minimum time taken for retreat from a point 300 km inland from the edge of the continental shelf through to Lake Ontario is about 2000 years.
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Schoof, Christian, Andrew D. Davis, and Tiberiu V. Popa. "Boundary layer models for calving marine outlet glaciers." Cryosphere 11, no. 5 (October 5, 2017): 2283–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2283-2017.
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Abstract. We consider the flow of marine-terminating outlet glaciers that are laterally confined in a channel of prescribed width. In that case, the drag exerted by the channel side walls on a floating ice shelf can reduce extensional stress at the grounding line. If ice flux through the grounding line increases with both ice thickness and extensional stress, then a longer shelf can reduce ice flux by decreasing extensional stress. Consequently, calving has an effect on flux through the grounding line by regulating the length of the shelf. In the absence of a shelf, it plays a similar role by controlling the above-flotation height of the calving cliff. Using two calving laws, one due to Nick et al. (2010) based on a model for crevasse propagation due to hydrofracture and the other simply asserting that calving occurs where the glacier ice becomes afloat, we pose and analyse a flowline model for a marine-terminating glacier by two methods: direct numerical solution and matched asymptotic expansions. The latter leads to a boundary layer formulation that predicts flux through the grounding line as a function of depth to bedrock, channel width, basal drag coefficient, and a calving parameter. By contrast with unbuttressed marine ice sheets, we find that flux can decrease with increasing depth to bedrock at the grounding line, reversing the usual stability criterion for steady grounding line location. Stable steady states can then have grounding lines located on retrograde slopes. We show how this anomalous behaviour relates to the strength of lateral versus basal drag on the grounded portion of the glacier and to the specifics of the calving law used.
21
Skvarca, Pedro. "Fast recession of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf monitored by space images." Annals of Glaciology 17 (1993): 317–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0260305500013033.
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The rapid retreat and disintegration of the Larsen Ice Shelf sector extending north of Seal Nunataks (65° S), documented from the mid 1970s onwards by remote sensing, is presented and related to the Antarctic Peninsula climatic warming recorded over several past decades. A 1975 KOSMOS satellite photograph and a series of LANDSAT MSS and TM images taken in 1978, 1979, 1986, 1988 and 1989 were used to monitor the retreat of the ice shelf between Seal Nunataks and Prince Gustav Channel. The ice shelf has decreased by more than 30% during the period 1975–89 within the Christensen Island to Cape Longing region. Measurements of the ice front position carried out in the field during late 1991 indicate that the recession between Lindenberg Island and Sobral Peninsula is still continuing, in some places at a rate of up to 2.5 km a−1.
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Skvarca, Pedro. "Fast recession of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf monitored by space images." Annals of Glaciology 17 (1993): 317–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260305500013033.
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The rapid retreat and disintegration of the Larsen Ice Shelf sector extending north of Seal Nunataks (65° S), documented from the mid 1970s onwards by remote sensing, is presented and related to the Antarctic Peninsula climatic warming recorded over several past decades. A 1975 KOSMOS satellite photograph and a series of LANDSAT MSS and TM images taken in 1978, 1979, 1986, 1988 and 1989 were used to monitor the retreat of the ice shelf between Seal Nunataks and Prince Gustav Channel. The ice shelf has decreased by more than 30% during the period 1975–89 within the Christensen Island to Cape Longing region. Measurements of the ice front position carried out in the field during late 1991 indicate that the recession between Lindenberg Island and Sobral Peninsula is still continuing, in some places at a rate of up to 2.5 km a−1.
23
Bischof, Jens F., and Dennis A. Darby. "Quaternary ice transport in the Canadian Arctic and extent of Late Wisconsinan Glaciation in the Queen Elizabeth Islands." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 36, no. 12 (December 1, 1999): 2007–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e99-096.
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Most of the ice-rafted debris in channels off the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Nunavut, is of local origin, particularly in the inner part of the archipelago, but samples from the Arctic shelf contain as much as 40% grains from sources as far away as 2000 km, including the Siberian shelves. Particle transport by drifting sea ice from distant shelves is an important process on the Arctic continental shelf of the Queen Elizabeth Islands. In the interior of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and in the Viscount Melville and Lancaster sounds, particle transport is limited to distances of approximately 200 km. Mixing is more common among grains of coarse silt to fine sand than in the >250 µm fraction, but even the latter contains debris from sources far apart. During the Late Wisconsinan, the northern, southern, and eastern Queen Elizabeth Islands were covered by glaciers flowing radially from ice centers on the islands into the inter-island channels. Queens Channel was completely filled by ice, and a glacier lobe moved north from an ice divide northwest of Devon Island to Peary Channel. This lobe redistributed crystalline and carbonate erratics that are derived in part from a strongly weathered and degraded till that was deposited by a pre-Late Wisconsinan glaciation, and in part from glacial erratics that were deposited below the marine limit by icebergs during the Late Wisconsin deglaciation. Tills from eastern Bathurst Island are locally derived and devoid of erratics, but submarine tills west of Bathurst Island contain crystalline erratics that could be from either the Canadian Shield or Victoria Island.
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Jordan, Tom A., David Porter, Kirsty Tinto, Romain Millan, Atsuhiro Muto, Kelly Hogan, Robert D. Larter, Alastair G. C. Graham, and John D. Paden. "New gravity-derived bathymetry for the Thwaites, Crosson, and Dotson ice shelves revealing two ice shelf populations." Cryosphere 14, no. 9 (September 9, 2020): 2869–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2869-2020.
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Abstract. Ice shelves play a critical role in the long-term stability of ice sheets through their buttressing effect. The underlying bathymetry and cavity thickness are key inputs for modelling future ice sheet evolution. However, direct observation of sub-ice-shelf bathymetry is time-consuming, logistically risky, and in some areas simply not possible. Here we use new compilations of airborne and marine gravity, radar depth sounding, and swath bathymetry to provide new estimates of sub-ice-shelf bathymetry outboard of the rapidly changing West Antarctic Thwaites Glacier and beneath the adjacent Dotson and Crosson ice shelves. This region is of special interest, as the low-lying inland reverse slope of the Thwaites Glacier system makes it vulnerable to marine ice sheet instability, with rapid grounding line retreat observed since 1993 suggesting this process may be underway. Our results confirm a major marine channel >800 m deep extends tens of kilometres to the front of Thwaites Glacier, while the adjacent ice shelves are underlain by more complex bathymetry. Comparison of our new bathymetry with ice shelf draft reveals that ice shelves formed since 1993 comprise a distinct population where the draft conforms closely to the underlying bathymetry, unlike the older ice shelves, which show a more uniform depth of the ice base. This indicates that despite rapid basal melting in some areas, these recently floated parts of the ice shelf are not yet in dynamic equilibrium with their retreated grounding line positions and the underlying ocean system, a factor which must be included in future models of this region's evolution.
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WASHAM, PETER, KEITH W. NICHOLLS, ANDREAS MÜNCHOW, and LAURIE PADMAN. "Summer surface melt thins Petermann Gletscher Ice Shelf by enhancing channelized basal melt." Journal of Glaciology 65, no. 252 (July 9, 2019): 662–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.43.
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ABSTRACTIncreasing ocean and air temperatures have contributed to the removal of floating ice shelves from several Greenland outlet glaciers; however, the specific contribution of these external forcings remains poorly understood. Here we use atmospheric, oceanographic and glaciological time series data from the ice shelf of Petermann Gletscher, NW Greenland to quantify the forcing of the ocean and atmosphere on the ice shelf at a site ~16 km from the grounding line within a large sub-ice-shelf channel. Basal melt rates here indicate a strong seasonality, rising from a winter mean of 2 m a−1 to a maximum of 80 m a−1 during the summer melt season. This increase in basal melt rates confirms the direct link between summer atmospheric warming around Greenland and enhanced ocean-forced melting of its remaining ice shelves. We attribute this enhanced melting to increased discharge of subglacial runoff into the ocean at the grounding line, which strengthens under-ice currents and drives a greater ocean heat flux toward the ice base.
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Gray, L., N. Short, R. Bindschadler, I. Joughin, L. Padman, P. Vornberger, and A. Khananian. "RADARSAT interferometry for Antarctic grounding-zone mapping." Annals of Glaciology 34 (2002): 269–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756402781817879.
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AbstractSatellite radar interferometry (SRI) is used to provide new information on grounding zones in areas of the eastern Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner Ice Shelf, Antarctica. At the times of the RADARSAT SRI passes, separated by 24 days, a tidal model predicts a change in vertical displacement of the freely floating ice of >1 m in both areas. The change in vertical position occurs over a 5–10 km flexure zone adjacent to the grounding line and would lead to a relatively high interferometric phase fringe rate. This was observed in some areas, and suitable imagery has been used to map the grounding-zone position to an estimated accuracy of 1–2 km. Results for the ice-plain area upstream of the Crary Ice Rise are consistent with the tidal model and improve the previous grounding-line estimates based on field surveys and Système Probatoire pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) data. The results support the suggestion of increased ice grounding in this area, and show that a sub-ice-shelf water channel around the southern end of the Crary Ice Rise is unlikely. Results for the Filchner Ice Shelf also show that existing maps of the grounding zone can be refined. In particular, we identify a large ice rise close to the mouth of the Bailey Ice Stream.
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Rintoul, Stephen Rich, Alessandro Silvano, Beatriz Pena-Molino, Esmee van Wijk, Mark Rosenberg, Jamin Stevens Greenbaum, and Donald D. Blankenship. "Ocean heat drives rapid basal melt of the Totten Ice Shelf." Science Advances 2, no. 12 (December 2016): e1601610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601610.
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Mass loss from the West Antarctic ice shelves and glaciers has been linked to basal melt by ocean heat flux. The Totten Ice Shelf in East Antarctica, which buttresses a marine-based ice sheet with a volume equivalent to at least 3.5 m of global sea-level rise, also experiences rapid basal melt, but the role of ocean forcing was not known because of a lack of observations near the ice shelf. Observations from the Totten calving front confirm that (0.22 ± 0.07) × 106m3s−1of warm water enters the cavity through a newly discovered deep channel. The ocean heat transport into the cavity is sufficient to support the large basal melt rates inferred from glaciological observations. Change in ocean heat flux is a plausible physical mechanism to explain past and projected changes in this sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to sea level.
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Montelli, Aleksandr, Sean P. S. Gulick, Rodrigo Fernandez, Bruce C. Frederick, Amelia E. Shevenell, Amy Leventer, and Donald D. Blankenship. "Seismic stratigraphy of the Sabrina Coast shelf, East Antarctica: Early history of dynamic meltwater-rich glaciations." GSA Bulletin 132, no. 3-4 (July 16, 2019): 545–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/b35100.1.
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Abstract High-resolution seismic data from the Sabrina Coast continental shelf, East Antarctica, elucidate the Cenozoic evolution of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Detailed seismic stratigraphic and facies analysis reveal the Paleogene to earliest Pliocene glacial evolution of the Aurora Basin catchment, including at least 12 glacial expansions across the shelf indicated by erosional surfaces and chaotic acoustic character of strata. Differences in facies composition and seismic architecture reveal several periods of ice-free conditions succeeded by glacial expansions across the shelf. A deep (∼100 m), undulating erosional surface suggests the initial appearance of grounded ice on the shelf. Following the initial ice expansion, the region experienced an interval of open-marine to ice-distal conditions, marked by an up to 200-m-thick sequence of stratified sediments. At least three stacked erosional surfaces reveal major cross-shelf glacial expansions of regional glaciers characterized by deep (up to ∼120 m) channel systems associated with extensive subglacial meltwater. The seismic character of the sediments below the latest Miocene to earliest Pliocene regional unconformity indicates intervals of glacial retreat interrupted by advances of temperate, meltwater-rich glacial ice from the Aurora Basin catchment. Our results document the Paleogene to late Miocene glacial history of this climatically sensitive region of East Antarctica and provide an important paleoenvironmental context for future scientific drilling to constrain the regional climate and timing of Cenozoic glacial variability.
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Alley, Karen E., Ted A. Scambos, Matthew R. Siegfried, and Helen Amanda Fricker. "Impacts of warm water on Antarctic ice shelf stability through basal channel formation." Nature Geoscience 9, no. 4 (March 14, 2016): 290–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2675.
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Bindschadler, Robert, Patricia Vornberger, and Laurence Gray. "Changes in the ice plain of Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica." Journal of Glaciology 51, no. 175 (2005): 620–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756505781829070.
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AbstractData from the mouth of the decelerating Whillans Ice Stream (WIS), West Antarctica, spanning 42 years are reviewed. Deceleration has continued, with local areas of both thinning and thickening occurring. The mean thinning rate is 0.48 ± 0.77 ma–1. No consistent overall pattern is observed. Ice thickens immediately upstream of Crary Ice Rise where deceleration and divergence are strongest, suggesting expanded upstream influence of the ice rise. Thinning is prevalent on the Ross Ice Shelf. Grounding-line advance at a rate of 0.3 km a–1 is detected in a few locations. Basal stresses vary across an ice-stream transect with a zone of enhanced flow at the margin. Marginal shear is felt at the ice-stream center. Mass-balance values are less negative, but larger errors of earlier measurements mask any possible temporal pattern. Comparisons of the recent flow field with flow stripes suggest WIS contributes less ice to the deep subglacial channel carved by Mercer Ice Stream and now flows straighter. The general lack of geometric changes suggests that the regional velocity decrease is due to changing basal conditions.
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Mankoff, Kenneth D., Stanley S. Jacobs, Slawek M. Tulaczyk, and Sharon E. Stammerjohn. "The role of Pine Island Glacier ice shelf basal channels in deep-water upwelling, polynyas and ocean circulation in Pine Island Bay, Antarctica." Annals of Glaciology 53, no. 60 (2012): 123–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2012aog60a062.
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AbstractSeveral hundred visible and thermal infrared satellite images of Antarctica’s southeast Amundsen Sea from 1986 to 2011, combined with aerial observations in 2009, show a strong inverse relation between prominent curvilinear surface depressions and the underlying basal morphology of the outer Pine Island Glacier ice shelf. Shipboard measurements near the calving front reveal positive temperature, salinity and current anomalies indicative of melt-laden, deep-water outflows near and above the larger channel termini. These buoyant plumes rise to the surface and are expressed as small polynyas in the sea ice and thermal signatures in the open water. The warm upwellings also trace the cyclonic surface circulation in Pine Island Bay. The satellite coverage suggests changing modes of ocean/ice interactions, dominated by leads along the ice shelf through 1999, fast ice and polynyas from 2000 to 2007, and larger areas of open water since 2008.
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Hamilton, Andrew K., Bernard E. Laval, Derek R. Mueller, Warwick F. Vincent, and Luke Copland. "Dynamic response of an Arctic epishelf lake to seasonal and long-term forcing: implications for ice shelf thickness." Cryosphere 11, no. 5 (September 12, 2017): 2189–211. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2189-2017.
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Abstract. Changes in the depth of the freshwater–seawater interface in epishelf lakes have been used to infer long-term changes in the minimum thickness of ice shelves; however, little is known about the dynamics of epishelf lakes and what other factors may influence their depth. Continuous observations collected between 2011 and 2014 in the Milne Fiord epishelf lake, in the Canadian Arctic, showed that the depth of the halocline varied seasonally by up to 3.3 m, which was comparable to interannual variability. The seasonal depth variation was controlled by the magnitude of surface meltwater inflow and the hydraulics of the inferred outflow pathway, a narrow basal channel in the Milne Ice Shelf. When seasonal variation and an episodic mixing of the halocline were accounted for, long-term records of depth indicated there was no significant change in thickness of ice along the basal channel from 1983 to 2004, followed by a period of steady thinning at 0.50 m a−1 between 2004 and 2011. Rapid thinning at 1.15 m a−1 then occurred from 2011 to 2014, corresponding to a period of warming regional air temperatures. Continued warming is expected to lead to the breakup of the ice shelf and the imminent loss of the last known epishelf lake in the Arctic.
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Wåhlin, A. K., X. Yuan, G. Björk, and C. Nohr. "Inflow of Warm Circumpolar Deep Water in the Central Amundsen Shelf*." Journal of Physical Oceanography 40, no. 6 (June 1, 2010): 1427–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2010jpo4431.1.
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Abstract The thinning and acceleration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been attributed to basal melting induced by intrusions of relatively warm salty water across the continental shelf. A hydrographic section including lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements showing such an inflow in the channel leading to the Getz and Dotson Ice Shelves is presented here. The flow rate was 0.3–0.4 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1), and the subsurface heat loss was estimated to be 1.2–1.6 TW. Assuming that the inflow persists throughout the year, it corresponds to an ice melt of 110–130 km3 yr−1, which exceeds recent estimates of the net ice glacier ice volume loss in the Amundsen Sea. The results also show a 100–150-m-thick intermediate water mass consisting of Circumpolar Deep Water that has been modified (cooled and freshened) by subsurface melting of ice shelves and/or icebergs. This water mass has not previously been reported in the region, possibly because of the paucity of historical data.
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Gladstone, Rupert M., Antony J. Payne, and Stephen L. Cornford. "Resolution requirements for grounding-line modelling: sensitivity to basal drag and ice-shelf buttressing." Annals of Glaciology 53, no. 60 (2012): 97–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2012aog60a148.
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AbstractSimulations of grounding-line migration in ice-sheet models using a fixed grid have been shown to exhibit poor convergence at achievable resolutions. We present a series of ‘shelfy-stream’ flowline model experiments using an idealized set-up. We assess the performance of a range of grounding-line parameterizations (GLPs) over a large input space by varying bedrock gradient, rate factor, basal drag coefficient and net accumulation. The relative performance of GLPs is similar to Gladstone and others (2010a) except at low basal drag, in which case the grounding-line errors are very small for all GLPs. We find that grounding-line errors are far more sensitive to basal drag than to the other inputs or to choice of GLP. We then quantify grounding-line errors as a function of resolution while varying basal drag and channel width (using a parameterization to represent buttressing). Reducing either basal drag or channel width reduces the errors associated with the grounding line. Our results suggest that a structured fixed-grid shelfy-stream ice-sheet model would need to run at a horizontal resolution of ~1–2km to accurately simulate grounding-line positions of marine ice-sheet outlet glaciers such as Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica.
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Jarvis, E. P., and E. C. King. "Seismic investigation of the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica: in search of the Larsen Basin." Antarctic Science 7, no. 2 (June 1995): 181–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102095000241.
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Seismic reflection surveys were carried out over the Larsen Ice Shelf to examine the extent of the observed sedimentary sequences of the Larsen Basin as suggested by aeromagnetic and gravity data. The surveys were carried out with a small team of six, working from Skidoo motor toboggans and Nansen sledges. Charges of up to 8 kg were fired in hot-water drilled holes up to 9 m deep and 6 sec records made by a 48 channel TI DFS V system with a 4 ms sample interval. By towing a 2.4 km cable behind a Skidoo it was possible to obtain 2.4 km of 24 fold data per day. The reflection data were supplemented by shallow refraction surveys using a 12 channel Nimbus seismograph and by a 12 km expanding spread experiment. The refraction data gave velocities of 1305 ± 20 m s−1 for surface snow and 3154 m s−1 for the top 100 m of shelf ice. The 24 km of reflection data showed high seismic velocities with weak shallow reflectors, characteristics which are quite different from the known basin fill on James Ross Island. It is concluded that the surveys were done outside the basin and that the depth to basement estimates made from the aeromagnetic data do not provide a reliable guide to the extent of the basin.
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Hundert, Thian, and David J. W. Piper. "Late Quaternary sedimentation on the southwestern Scotian Slope, eastern Canada: relationship to glaciationGeological Survey of Canada Contribution 20070176." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 45, no. 3 (March 2008): 267–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e07-075.
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The sedimentary record on continental slopes has the potential to preserve a record of glacial retreat on the adjacent continental shelf. The glacial history of the southwestern part of the Scotian Shelf is poorly known. Air-gun and high-resolution sparker profiles and numerous sediment cores up to 10 m long have been used to determine the character of sedimentation on the southwestern Scotian Slope since the last glacial maximum (LGM). Seismic-reflection profiles show that glacial till was deposited at shallow depths on the upper continental slope, and correlation to dated piston cores farther downslope show that this till dates from the LGM. Slope sedimentation at this time was dominated by local ice and deposited as plume fallout and turbidites. Progressively increasing importance of red-brown sediment derived from glacial supply to Laurentian Channel indicates retreat of ice from the shelf edge and diminishing supply of proglacial sediment from the calving embayment in the mid-Scotian Shelf. With the termination of distal proglacial sediment supply, the sedimentation rate diminished rapidly and hemipelagic sedimentation prevailed through the Holocene.
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Kingslake, J., F. Ng, and A. Sole. "Modelling channelized surface drainage of supraglacial lakes." Journal of Glaciology 61, no. 225 (2015): 185–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2015jog14j158.
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AbstractSupraglacial lakes can drain to the bed of ice sheets, affecting ice dynamics, or over their surface, relocating surface water. Focusing on surface drainage, we first discuss observations of lake drainage. In particular, for the first time, lakes are observed to drain >70 km across the Nivlisen ice shelf, East Antarctica. Inspired by these observations, we develop a model of lake drainage through a channel that incises into an ice-sheet surface by frictional heat dissipated in the flow. Modelled lake drainage can be stable or unstable. During stable drainage, the rate of lake-level drawdown exceeds the rate of channel incision, so discharge from the lake decreases with time; this can prevent the lake from emptying completely. During unstable drainage, discharge grows unstably with time and always empties the lake. Model lakes are more prone to drain unstably when the initial lake area, the lake input and the channel slope are larger. These parameters will vary during atmospheric-warming-induced ablation-area expansion, hence the mechanisms revealed by our analysis can influence the dynamic response of ice sheets to warming through their impact on surface-water routing and storage.
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O'Brien, P. E., L. De Santis, P. T. Harris, E. Domack, and P. G. Quilty. "Ice shelf grounding zone features of western Prydz Bay, Antarctica: sedimentary processes from seismic and sidescan images." Antarctic Science 11, no. 1 (March 1999): 78–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102099000115.
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Several grounding zone wedges were left on the floor and flanks of Prydz Channel in western Prydz Bay by the Lambert Glacier during the last glacial cycle. Seismic profiles indicate that vertical accretion at the glacier bed was the most important depositional process in forming the wedges, rather than progradation by sediment gravity flows. Sidescan sonographs reveal extensive development of flutes on the sea floor inshore from the wedges, indicating deformable bed conditions beneath the ice. The region inshore of the east Prydz Channel wedge features extensive dune fields formed by currents flowing towards the grounding zone. This orientation is consistent with models of circulation beneath ice shelves in which melting at the grounding line generates plumes of fresher water that rise along the base of the ice shelf, entraining sea water into a circulation cell. The Lambert Deep is surrounded by a large composite ridge of glacial sediments. Internal reflectors suggest formation mostly by subglacial accretion. The sea floor in the Lambert Deep lacks dune fields and shows evidence of interspersed subglacial cavities and grounded ice beneath the glacier. The absence of bedforms reflects sea floor topography that would have inhibited the formation of energetic melt water-driven circulation.
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Nývlt, Daniel, Régis Braucher, Zbyněk Engel, Bedřich Mlčoch, and ASTER Team. "Timing of the Northern Prince Gustav Ice Stream retreat and the deglaciation of northern James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula during the last glacial–interglacial transition." Quaternary Research 82, no. 2 (September 2014): 441–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.05.003.
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AbstractThe Northern Prince Gustav Ice Stream located in Prince Gustav Channel, drained the northeastern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet during the last glacial maximum. Here we present a chronology of its retreat based on in situ produced cosmogenic 10Be from erratic boulders at Cape Lachman, northern James Ross Island. Schmidt hammer testing was adopted to assess the weathering state of erratic boulders in order to better interpret excess cosmogenic 10Be from cumulative periods of pre-exposure or earlier release from the glacier. The weighted mean exposure age of five boulders based on Schmidt hammer data is 12.9 ± 1.2 ka representing the beginning of the deglaciation of lower-lying areas (< 60 m a.s.l.) of the northern James Ross Island, when Northern Prince Gustav Ice Stream split from the remaining James Ross Island ice cover. This age represents the minimum age of the transition from grounded ice stream to floating ice shelf in the middle continental shelf areas of the northern Prince Gustav Channel. The remaining ice cover located at higher elevations of northern James Ross Island retreated during the early Holocene due to gradual decay of terrestrial ice and increase of equilibrium line altitude. Schmidt hammer R-values are inversely correlated with 10Be exposure ages and could be used as a proxy for exposure history of individual granite boulders in this region and favour the hypothesis of earlier release of boulders with excessive 10Be concentrations from glacier directly at this site. These data provide evidences for an earlier deglaciation of northern James Ross Island when compared with other recently presented cosmogenic nuclide based deglaciation chronologies, but this timing coincides with rapid increase of atmospheric temperature in this marginal part of Antarctica.
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Marsh, Oliver J., Helen A. Fricker, Matthew R. Siegfried, Knut Christianson, Keith W. Nicholls, Hugh F. J. Corr, and Ginny Catania. "High basal melting forming a channel at the grounding line of Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica." Geophysical Research Letters 43, no. 1 (January 14, 2016): 250–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015gl066612.
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Kim, Byeong-Hoon, Choon-Ki Lee, Ki-Weon Seo, Won Sang Lee, and Ted Scambos. "Active subglacial lakes and channelized water flow beneath the Kamb Ice Stream." Cryosphere 10, no. 6 (December 1, 2016): 2971–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2971-2016.
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Abstract. We identify two previously unknown subglacial lakes beneath the stagnated trunk of the Kamb Ice Stream (KIS). Rapid fill-drain hydrologic events over several months are inferred from surface height changes measured by CryoSat-2 altimetry and indicate that the lakes are probably connected by a subglacial drainage network, whose structure is inferred from the regional hydraulic potential and probably links the lakes. The sequential fill-drain behavior of the subglacial lakes and concurrent rapid thinning in a channel-like topographic feature near the grounding line implies that the subglacial water repeatedly flows from the region above the trunk to the KIS grounding line and out beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. Ice shelf elevation near the hypothesized outlet is observed to decrease slowly during the study period. Our finding supports a previously published conceptual model of the KIS shutdown stemming from a transition from distributed flow to well-drained channelized flow of subglacial water. However, a water-piracy hypothesis in which the KIS subglacial water system is being starved by drainage in adjacent ice streams is also supported by the fact that the degree of KIS trunk subglacial lake activity is relatively weaker than those of the upstream lakes.
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Kennedy, Douglas S., and John B. Anderson. "Glacial-Marine Sedimentation and Quaternary Glacial History of Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula." Quaternary Research 31, no. 2 (March 1989): 255–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(89)90008-2.
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AbstractMarguerite Bay, situated between the subpolar glacial regime of the northern Antarctic Peninsula and the polar glacial regime of West Antarctica, is ideally located to test various models of glacial and glacial-marine sedimentation and specific scenarios of late Wisconsin ice sheet expansion. Piston cores and single-channel seismic reflection data were collected during the Deep Freeze 85 and 86 expeditions to determine the late Quaternary history of the area. Seismic data in the bay show a rugged seafloor, with numerous deep troughs and a very thin layer of sediment over crystalline basement or older sediments. Glacial erosion is important in modifying existing features, although the ultimate repository of the eroded material is not known; it is not found within the bay. The piston cores are topped by diatomaceous muds, which are underlain by terrigenous muds and muddy gravels that imply deposition beneath an ice shelf. Basal tills were penetrated at three sites, reflecting deposition by a grounded marine ice sheet. A reconstruction of the glacial history of Marguerite Bay since the last glacial maximum shows grounded ice filling the bay in late Wisconsin time. Rising sea level caused an uncoupling of the ice sheet and slow retreat of an ice shelf throughout the Holocene.
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Nitsche, F. O., K. Gohl, R. Larter, C. D. Hillenbrand, G. Kuhn, J. Smith, S. Jacobs, J. Anderson, and M. Jakobsson. "Paleo ice flow and subglacial meltwater dynamics in Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica." Cryosphere Discussions 6, no. 5 (October 4, 2012): 4267–304. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tcd-6-4267-2012.
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Abstract. Increasing evidence for an elaborate subglacial drainage network underneath modern Antarctic ice sheets suggests that basal meltwater has an important influence on ice stream flow. Swath bathymetry surveys from previously glaciated continental margins display morphological features indicative of subglacial meltwater flow in inner shelf areas of some paleo ice stream troughs. Over the last few years several expeditions to the Eastern Amundsen Sea embayment (West Antarctica) have investigated the paleo ice streams that extended from the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. A compilation of high-resolution swath bathymetry data from inner Pine Island Bay reveals details of a rough seabed topography including several deep channels that connect a series of basins. This complex basin and channel network is indicative of meltwater flow beneath the paleo-Pine Island and Thwaites ice streams, along with substantial subglacial water inflow from the east. This meltwater could have enhanced ice flow over the rough bedrock topography. Meltwater features diminish with the onset of linear features north of the basins. Similar features have previously been observed in several other areas, including the Dotson-Getz Trough (Western Amundsen Sea embayment) and Marguerite Bay (SW Antarctic Peninsula), suggesting that these features may be widespread around the Antarctic margin and that subglacial meltwater drainage played a major role in past ice-sheet dynamics.
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Nitsche, F. O., K. Gohl, R. D. Larter, C. D. Hillenbrand, G. Kuhn, J. A. Smith, S. Jacobs, J. B. Anderson, and M. Jakobsson. "Paleo ice flow and subglacial meltwater dynamics in Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica." Cryosphere 7, no. 1 (February 8, 2013): 249–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-249-2013.
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Abstract. Increasing evidence for an elaborate subglacial drainage network underneath modern Antarctic ice sheets suggests that basal meltwater has an important influence on ice stream flow. Swath bathymetry surveys from previously glaciated continental margins display morphological features indicative of subglacial meltwater flow in inner shelf areas of some paleo ice stream troughs. Over the last few years several expeditions to the eastern Amundsen Sea embayment (West Antarctica) have investigated the paleo ice streams that extended from the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. A compilation of high-resolution swath bathymetry data from inner Pine Island Bay reveals details of a rough seabed topography including several deep channels that connect a series of basins. This complex basin and channel network is indicative of meltwater flow beneath the paleo-Pine Island and Thwaites ice streams, along with substantial subglacial water inflow from the east. This meltwater could have enhanced ice flow over the rough bedrock topography. Meltwater features diminish with the onset of linear features north of the basins. Similar features have previously been observed in several other areas, including the Dotson-Getz Trough (western Amundsen Sea embayment) and Marguerite Bay (SW Antarctic Peninsula), suggesting that these features may be widespread around the Antarctic margin and that subglacial meltwater drainage played a major role in past ice-sheet dynamics.
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Barrie, J. Vaughn, H. Gary Greene, Kim W. Conway, and Daniel S. Brothers. "Late Quaternary sea level, isostatic response, and sediment dispersal along the Queen Charlotte fault." Geosphere 17, no. 2 (January 19, 2021): 375–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/ges02311.1.
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Abstract The active Pacific margin of the Haida Gwaii and southeast Alaska has been subject to vigorous storm activity, dramatic sea-level change, and active tectonism since glacial times. Glaciation was minimal along the western shelf margin, except for large ice streams that formed glacial valleys to the shelf break between the major islands of southeast Alaska and Haida Gwaii. Upon deglaciation, sediment discharge was extensive, but it terminated quickly due to rapid glacial retreat and sea-level lowering with the development of a glacio-isostatic forebulge, coupled with eustatic lowering. Glacial sedimentation offshore ended soon after 15.0 ka. The shelf became emergent, with sea level lowering by, and possibly greater than, 175 m. The rapid transgression that followed began sometime before 12.7 ka off Haida Gwaii and 12.0 ka off southeast Alaska, and with the extreme wave-dominated environment, the unconsolidated sediment that was left on the shelf was effectively removed. Temperate carbonate sands make up the few sediment deposits presently found on the shelf. The Queen Charlotte fault, which lies just below the shelf break for most of its length, was extensively gullied during this short period of significant sediment discharge, when sediment was transported though the glacial valleys and across the narrow shelf through fluvial and submarine channels and was deposited offshore as sea level dropped. The Queen Charlotte fault became the western terminus of the glacio-isostatic forebulge, with the fault acting as a hinged flap taking up the uplift and collapse along the fault of 70+ m. This may have resulted in the development of the distinctive fault valley that presently acts as a very linear channel pathway for sediment throughout the fault system.
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Piper, David J. W., and Adam Macdonald. "Timing and position of Late Wisconsinan ice-margins on the upper slope seaward of Laurentian Channel." Géographie physique et Quaternaire 55, no. 2 (June 21, 2004): 131–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/008298ar.
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Abstract At the last glacial maximum, the major ice outlet through Laurentian Channel terminated on the upper continental slope. A 10 km square area of the upper slope has been investigated in detail, using airgun and boomer seismic reflection profiles and piston cores. Sediment failure during the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake resulted in exposure at the seabed of Last Glacial Maximum sediments that are normally buried beneath tens of metres of younger strata. Ice-margin acoustic and lithofacies are interpreted using criteria developed on the continental shelf and chronology is provided by AMS radiocarbon dates on in situ mollusc shells. Seismic data show a morainal ridge at 500 mbsl (mbsl = metres below (present) sea level) corresponding to the Last Glacial Maximum ice grounding line. A change in thermal regime of the ice or a subglacial meltwater outburst, at 16.5 ± 0.15 ka (radiocarbon years, -0.4 ka marine reservoir correction applied), resulted in release of sediment-laden meltwater that eroded gullies on the continental slope. This erosion surface is immediately overlain by a prominent stony diamict that extends to about 700 mbsl and may represent till deposition from a glacial surge. The ice margin then retreated upslope by 16.3 ka, probably to the prominent moraine at 380 mbsl at the lip of the Laurentian Channel. Evidence from mud turbidites on Laurentian Fan suggests that this ice marginal position may have persisted until about 14.2 ka. Ice then retreated rapidly northwards up Laurentian Channel, synchronous with Heinrich Event 1 at about 14 ka. Younger proglacial sediment on the upper continental slope slumped at about 12 ka, probably as a result of loading by a late-ice advance across St. Pierre Bank.
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Rott, Helmut, Wael Abdel Jaber, Jan Wuite, Stefan Scheiblauer, Dana Floricioiu, Jan Melchior van Wessem, Thomas Nagler, Nuno Miranda, and Michiel R. van den Broeke. "Changing pattern of ice flow and mass balance for glaciers discharging into the Larsen A and B embayments, Antarctic Peninsula, 2011 to 2016." Cryosphere 12, no. 4 (April 11, 2018): 1273–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1273-2018.
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Abstract. We analysed volume change and mass balance of outlet glaciers on the northern Antarctic Peninsula over the periods 2011 to 2013 and 2013 to 2016, using high-resolution topographic data from the bistatic interferometric radar satellite mission TanDEM-X. Complementary to the geodetic method that applies DEM differencing, we computed the net mass balance of the main outlet glaciers using the mass budget method, accounting for the difference between the surface mass balance (SMB) and the discharge of ice into an ocean or ice shelf. The SMB values are based on output of the regional climate model RACMO version 2.3p2. To study glacier flow and retrieve ice discharge we generated time series of ice velocity from data from different satellite radar sensors, with radar images of the satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X as the main source. The study area comprises tributaries to the Larsen A, Larsen Inlet and Prince Gustav Channel embayments (region A), the glaciers calving into the Larsen B embayment (region B) and the glaciers draining into the remnant part of the Larsen B ice shelf in Scar Inlet (region C). The glaciers of region A, where the buttressing ice shelf disintegrated in 1995, and of region B (ice shelf break-up in 2002) show continuing losses in ice mass, with significant reduction of losses after 2013. The mass balance numbers for the grounded glacier area of region A are −3.98 ± 0.33 Gt a−1 from 2011 to 2013 and −2.38 ± 0.18 Gt a−1 from 2013 to 2016. The corresponding numbers for region B are −5.75 ± 0.45 and −2.32 ± 0.25 Gt a−1. The mass balance in region C during the two periods was slightly negative, at −0.54 ± 0.38 Gt a−1 and −0.58 ± 0.25 Gt a−1. The main share in the overall mass losses of the region was contributed by two glaciers: Drygalski Glacier contributing 61 % to the mass deficit of region A, and Hektoria and Green glaciers accounting for 67 % to the mass deficit of region B. Hektoria and Green glaciers accelerated significantly in 2010–2011, triggering elevation losses up to 19.5 m a−1 on the lower terminus during the period 2011 to 2013 and resulting in a mass balance of −3.88 Gt a−1. Slowdown of calving velocities and reduced calving fluxes in 2013 to 2016 coincided with years in which ice mélange and sea ice cover persisted in proglacial fjords and bays during summer.
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Nelson, A. E., J. L. Smellie, M. Williams, and S. Moreton. "Age, geographical distribution and taphonomy of an unusual occurrence of mummified crabeater seals on James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula." Antarctic Science 20, no. 5 (May 16, 2008): 485–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095410200800134x.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractAn unusually dense collection of some 150 dead crabeater seals (Family Phocidae), in various stages of decay, occurs in the Brandy Bay hinterland, north-western James Ross Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula. Throughout the past 100 years, the presence of shelf ice (no longer present today) and sea ice in Prince Gustav Channel, between James Ross Island and the Antarctic Peninsula, has prevented seals from readily accessing the western side of James Ross Island. However, open water pools, some over one kilometre in diameter, remain accessible throughout the winter months, allowing seals to haul out onto the ice. It is likely that some of these seals may become disorientated as they wander away from the pools and instead head toward Brandy Bay and onto low-lying and snow-covered Abernethy Flats, easily mistaken for sea ice in early winter, where they perish. The large number of variably-decayed animals present suggests that this has probably happened on numerous occasions. However, some of the dead seals also probably perished during a documented mass dying event of crabeater seals in Prince Gustav Channel caused by an unidentified epidemic, possibly phocine distemper virus (PDV), during the spring of 1955.
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TAYLOR, FIONA, and AMY LEVENTER. "Late Quaternary palaeoenvironments in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica: interpretations from marine diatoms." Antarctic Science 15, no. 4 (December 2003): 512–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102003001639.
Full textAbstract:
Fossil diatom-bearing marine sediment cores recovered from Prydz Channel, Prydz Bay, record episodes of glacial advance and retreat in the bay. Diatom frustules are abundant, well preserved, and the species composition is diverse in two biogenic sediment units composed of siliceous diatom ooze (SMO-1 and SMO-2). Between SMO-1 and SMO-2 a terrigenous unit (T) is present, composed of muddy diamicton and sandy silty clay, which contains poorly preserved rare diatoms. The SMO units are interpreted to represent an open marine setting with seasonal sea ice cover; the T unit is interpreted to represent glacial ice expansion from the Amery Ice Shelf over the site. Based on an age model developed previously for other cores from Prydz Channel with analogous stratigraphies, we interpret our record to be late Quaternary through Holocene in age. The T unit records the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Prydz Bay; the SMO-1 and SMO-2 units record interstadial episodes that are post- and pre-LGM respectively. Extinct diatom taxa in the T and SMO-2 units indicate reworked sediment sourced from two different-aged deposits. Our results provide both a new interpretation of late Quaternary deposition in Prydz Channel and support for previous studies in this region.
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Dumont, Dany, Yves Gratton, and Todd E. Arbetter. "Modeling Wind-Driven Circulation and Landfast Ice-Edge Processes during Polynya Events in Northern Baffin Bay." Journal of Physical Oceanography 40, no. 6 (June 1, 2010): 1356–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2010jpo4292.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract A high-resolution sea ice–ocean numerical model of the North Water polynya has been developed to study the wind-driven circulation during polynya events. An idealized three-layer stratified ocean is used to initialize the model to characterize the baroclinic response to realistic wind and ice conditions. The model general circulation pattern is mainly forced by an along-channel sea level gradient between the Arctic Ocean and Baffin Bay, which determines the magnitude of the southward Baffin Current, and by an across-channel sea level gradient in Baffin Bay, which drives the northward West Greenland Current (WGC). These two currents are found to be anticorrelated to each other in the Smith Sound area. During strong northerly wind events, occurring quite frequently in the winter–spring period in the polynya, nutrient-rich Baffin Bay waters transported by the WGC are forced toward the Greenland shelf, coinciding with upwelling events along the Greenland coast. Whenever an ice bridge is present (i.e., the polynya exists and is substantially open), upwelling also occurs at the landfast ice edge. In such cases, the total upwelling area is increased by an amount that depends on the form of the ice bridge but could easily double during certain years. The baroclinic circulation associated with the upwelling response includes the formation of a cyclonic eddy attached to the ice edge that is generated during strong northerly wind events. Primary production estimations reveal that upwelling during polynya events plays a significant role in the early spring phytoplankton bloom, suggesting that the disappearance of the polynya as a result of climate change may have profound implications for the entire ecosystem.