Ice-shelf retreat drives recent Pine Island Glacier speedup
Joughin, I.; Shapero, D.; Smith, B.; Dutrieux, P.; Barham, M. (2021). Ice-shelf retreat drives recent Pine Island Glacier speedup. Science Advances 7(24): eabg3080. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg3080
In: Science Advances. AAAS: New York. ISSN 2375-2548; e-ISSN 2375-2548, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Joughin, I.
- Shapero, D.
- Smith, B.
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| Abstract |
Speedup of Pine Island Glacier over the past several decades has made it Antarctica’s largest contributor to sea-level rise. The past speedup is largely due to grounding-line retreat in response to ocean-induced thinning that reduced ice-shelf buttressing. While speeds remained fairly steady from 2009 to late 2017, our Copernicus Sentinel 1A/B–derived velocity data show a >12% speedup over the past 3 years, coincident with a 19-km retreat of the ice shelf. We use an ice-flow model to simulate this loss, finding that accelerated calving can explain the recent speedup, independent of the grounding-line, melt-driven processes responsible for past speedups. If the ice shelf’s rapid retreat continues, it could further destabilize the glacier far sooner than would be expected due to surface- or ocean-melting processes. |
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