Antarctic ice-shelf advance driven by anomalous atmospheric and sea-ice circulation
Christie, F.D.W.; Benham, T.J.; Batchelor, C.L.; Rack, W.; Montelli, A.; Dowdeswell, J.A. (2022). Antarctic ice-shelf advance driven by anomalous atmospheric and sea-ice circulation. Nature Geoscience 15(5): 356-362. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00938-x
In: Nature Geoscience. Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 1752-0894; e-ISSN 1752-0908, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Christie, F.D.W.
- Benham, T.J.
- Batchelor, C.L.
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- Rack, W.
- Montelli, A.
- Dowdeswell, J.A.
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| Abstract |
The disintegration of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula’s Larsen A and B ice shelves has been attributed to atmosphere and ocean warming, and increased mass losses from the glaciers once restrained by these ice shelves have increased Antarctica’s total contribution to sea-level rise. Abrupt recessions in ice-shelf frontal position presaged the break-up of Larsen A and B, yet, in the ~20 years since these events, documented knowledge of frontal change along the entire ~1,400-km-long eastern Antarctic Peninsula is limited. Here, we show that 85% of the seaward ice-shelf perimeter fringing this coastline underwent uninterrupted advance between the early 2000s and 2019, in contrast to the two previous decades. We attribute this advance to enhanced ocean-wave dampening, ice-shelf buttressing and the absence of sea-surface slope-induced gravitational ice-shelf flow. These phenomena were, in turn, enabled by increased near-shore sea ice driven by a Weddell Sea-wide intensification of cyclonic surface winds around 2002. Collectively, our observations demonstrate that sea-ice change can either safeguard from, or set in motion, the final rifting and calving of even large Antarctic ice shelves. |
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