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Breakup and conditions for stability of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica
Citation
Doake, CSM and Corr, HFJ and Rott, H and Skvarca, P and Young, NW, Breakup and conditions for stability of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Nature, 391, (6669) pp. 778-780. ISSN 0028-0836 (1998) [Refereed Article]
DOI: doi:10.1038/35832
Abstract
The breakup of ice shelves has been widely regarded as an indicator of climate change, with observations around the Ant-arctic Peninsula having shown a pattern of gradual retreat, associated with regional atmospheric warming and increased summer melt and fracturing processes. The rapid collapse of the northernmost section of the Larsen Ice Shelf (Larsen A), over a few days in January 1995, indicated that, after retreat beyond a critical limit, ice shelves may disintegrate rapidly. Here we use a finite-element numerical model that treats ice as a continuum without fracture to examine the breakup history between 1986 and 1997 of the two northern sections of Larsen Ice Shelf (Larsen A and Larsen B), from which we establish stability criteria for ice shelves. Analysis of various ice-shelf configurations reveals characteristic patterns in the strain rates near the ice front which we use to describe the stability of the ice shelf. On Larsen A, only the initial and final ice-front configurations show a stable pattern. Larsen B at present exhibits a stable pattern, but if the ice front were to retreat by a further few kilometres, it too is likely to enter an irreversible retreat phase.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
Research Group: | Physical geography and environmental geoscience |
Research Field: | Glaciology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments |
Objective Field: | Management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Young, NW (Mr Neal Young) |
ID Code: | 15174 |
Year Published: | 1998 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 121 |
Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic and Southern Ocean Environm |
Deposited On: | 1998-08-01 |
Last Modified: | 2011-08-10 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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