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Changes in ice-shelf buttressing following the collapse of Larsen A Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the resulting impact on tributaries
Citation
Royston, SJ and Gudmundsson, GH, Changes in ice-shelf buttressing following the collapse of Larsen A Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the resulting impact on tributaries, Journal of Glaciology, 62, (235) pp. 905-911. ISSN 0022-1430 (2016) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2016 the Author(s). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
The dominant mass-loss process on the Antarctic Peninsula has been ice-shelf collapse, including
the Larsen A Ice Shelf in early 1995. Following this collapse, there was rapid speed up and thinning
of its tributary glaciers. We model the impact of this ice-shelf collapse on upstream tributaries, and
compare with observations using new datasets of surface velocity and ice thickness. Using a two-horizontal-
dimension shallow shelf approximation model, we are able to replicate the observed large increase
in surface velocity that occurred within Drygalski Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula. The model
results show an instantaneous twofold increase in flux across the grounding line, caused solely from
the reduction in backstress through ice shelf removal. This demonstrates the importance of ice-shelf buttressing
for flow upstream of the grounding line and highlights the need to explicitly include lateral stresses
when modelling real-world settings. We hypothesise that further increases in velocity and flux
observed since the ice-shelf collapse result from transient mass redistribution effects. Reproducing
these effects poses the next, more stringent test of glacier and ice-sheet modelling studies.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | glacier modelling, ice shelves, buttressing |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Physical geography and environmental geoscience |
| Research Field: | Glaciology |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
| Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
| Objective Field: | Effects of climate change on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic environments (excl. social impacts) |
| UTAS Author: | Royston, SJ (Dr Sam Royston) |
| ID Code: | 110294 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 10 |
| Deposited By: | Geography and Spatial Science |
| Deposited On: | 2016-07-22 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-12-08 |
| Downloads: | 184 View Download Statistics |
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