West Antarctic surface melt triggered by atmospheric rivers
Wille, J.D.; Favier, V.; Dufour, A.; Gorodetskaya, I.V.; Turner, J.; Agosta, C.; Codron, F. (2019). West Antarctic surface melt triggered by atmospheric rivers. Nature Geoscience 12(11): 911-916. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0460-1 In: Nature Geoscience. Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 1752-0894; e-ISSN 1752-0908, more |  |
| Authors | | Top | - Wille, J.D.
- Favier, V.
- Dufour, A.
- Gorodetskaya, I.V., more
| - Turner, J.
- Agosta, C., more
- Codron, F.
| |
| Abstract | Recent major melting events in West Antarctica have raised concerns about a potential hydrofracturing and ice shelf instability. These events often share common forcings of surface melt-like anomalous radiative fluxes, turbulent heat fluxes and föhn winds. Using an atmospheric river detection algorithm developed for Antarctica together with surface melt datasets, we produced a climatology of atmospheric river-related surface melting around Antarctica and show that atmospheric rivers are associated with a large percentage of these surface melt events. Despite their rarity (around 12 events per year in West Antarctica), atmospheric rivers are associated with around 40% of the total summer meltwater generated across the Ross Ice Shelf to nearly 100% in the higher elevation Marie Byrd Land and 40–80% of the total winter meltwater generated on the Wilkins, Bach, George IV and Larsen B and C ice shelves. These events were all related to high-pressure blocking ridges that directed anomalous poleward moisture transport towards the continent. Major melt events in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet only occur about a couple times per decade, but a 1–2 °C warming and continued increase in atmospheric river activity could increase the melt frequency with consequences for ice shelf stability. |
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