Rapid disintegration of the Wordie Ice Shelf in response to atmospheric warming

Doake, C. S. M.; Vaughan, David G.

doi:10.1038/350328a0

Cited by 279 publications

(227 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…1) and Bawden would cease to provide a significant stabilising influence, and may even destabilise the ice front, long before the ice ungrounds through thinning. For example, Doake and Vaughan (1991) showed that ice rises acted as an "indenting wedge" during the retreat of Wordie Ice Shelf. A large calving occurred south of Bawden between late December 2004 and early January 2005, and the ongoing thinning (Paolo et al, 2015) and acceleration (Khazendar et al, 2011) in this region could indicate that ungrounding from Bawden is underway.…”

Section: Ungrounding From Bawden Ice Risementioning

confidence: 99%

Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of Larsen C Ice-Shelf thinning

et al. 2015

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Abstract. The catastrophic collapses of Larsen A and B ice shelves on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula have caused their tributary glaciers to accelerate, contributing to sea-level rise and freshening the Antarctic Bottom Water formed nearby. The surface of Larsen C Ice Shelf (LCIS), the largest ice shelf on the peninsula, is lowering. This could be caused by unbalanced ocean melting (ice loss) or enhanced firn melting and compaction (englacial air loss). Using a novel method to analyse eight radar surveys, this study derives separate estimates of ice and air thickness changes during a 15-year period. The uncertainties are considerable, but the primary estimate is that the surveyed lowering (0.066 ± 0.017 m yr −1 ) is caused by both ice loss (0.28 ± 0.18 m yr −1 ) and firn-air loss (0.037 ± 0.026 m yr −1 ). The ice loss is much larger than the air loss, but both contribute approximately equally to the lowering because the ice is floating. The ice loss could be explained by high basal melting and/or ice divergence, and the air loss by low surface accumulation or high surface melting and/or compaction. The primary estimate therefore requires that at least two forcings caused the surveyed lowering. Mechanisms are discussed by which LCIS stability could be compromised in the future. The most rapid pathways to collapse are offered by the ungrounding of LCIS from Bawden Ice Rise or ice-front retreat past a "compressive arch" in strain rates. Recent evidence suggests that either mechanism could pose an imminent risk.

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Section: Ungrounding From Bawden Ice Risementioning

confidence: 99%

Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of Larsen C Ice-Shelf thinning

et al. 2015

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“…The main episode of ice shelf removal took place in the 1980s (Doake & Vaughan 1991). The subsequent lack of change in glacier flow direction was used as an indicator that ice shelves do not matter by Vaughan (1993), but recent data showed that the region is 80% out of balance and Fleming Glacier flows 50% faster than in 1974, 50 km inland of the grounding line .…”

Section: (B ) Antarctic Peninsula Ice Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in ice dynamics and mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet

Rignot

2006

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

100

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The concept that the Antarctic ice sheet changes with eternal slowness has been challenged by recent observations from satellites. Pronounced regional warming in the Antarctic Peninsula triggered ice shelf collapse, which led to a 10-fold increase in glacier flow and rapid ice sheet retreat. This chain of events illustrated the vulnerability of ice shelves to climate warming and their buffering role on the mass balance of Antarctica. In West Antarctica, the Pine Island Bay sector is draining far more ice into the ocean than is stored upstream from snow accumulation. This sector could raise sea level by 1 m and trigger widespread retreat of ice in West Antarctica. Pine Island Glacier accelerated 38% since 1975, and most of the speed up took place over the last decade. Its neighbour Thwaites Glacier is widening up and may double its width when its weakened eastern ice shelf breaks up. Widespread acceleration in this sector may be caused by glacier ungrounding from ice shelf melting by an ocean that has recently warmed by 0.3 °C. In contrast, glaciers buffered from oceanic change by large ice shelves have only small contributions to sea level. In East Antarctica, many glaciers are close to a state of mass balance, but sectors grounded well below sea level, such as Cook Ice Shelf, Ninnis/Mertz, Frost and Totten glaciers, are thinning and losing mass. Hence, East Antarctica is not immune to changes.

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“…It is fed by seven glacier units (Reynolds 1988). In the last few decades Wordie Ice Shelf has rapidly disintegrated to its current state; little more than a few disconnected and retreating glacier tongues (Doake & Vaughan 1991). In this study I concentrate on the effects of the break-up on the inland ice but first describe some of the main features of the disintegration process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). Larsen Ice Shelf (Skvarca in press), George VI Ice Shelf (Doake 1982), and most dramatically, Wordie Ice Shelf (Doake & Vaughan 1991) have all shown continued progressive ice front retreat. This behaviour is clearly distinct from the more usual stable cycle of slow ice front advance punctuated by calving events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level

Vaughan

1993

Antartic science

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Temperature records in the Antarctic Peninsula have shown a climatic warming of 1.5"C over the past 30 years and a number of ice shelves have retreated. The most dramatic retreat has been that of Wordie Ice Shelf which has undergone a catastrophic disintegration since the 1960s. Understanding the cause and mechanism of the break-up may provide important clues to the fate of ice shelves farther south which, it has been suggested, help to stabilize the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf has been analysed using Landsat and SPOTimagery. Theseobservationsshowthattherelativecontributionofthevariousinput glacierstothe grounding line flux has not altered during the break-up. This means that the effect of the rapid and almost complete removal of the ice shelf has not been transmitted upstream and is not causing a rapid increase in velocities on the input glaciers. The volume of grounded ice in the catchment of Wordie Ice Shelf will thus, be largely unaffected by the break-up and there will be no significant contribution to sea level change. Since other ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula are also fed by relatively steep mountain glaciers the effect of the loss of the ice shelves on sea level would be likely to be similarly small.

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Rapid disintegration of the Wordie Ice Shelf in response to atmospheric warming

Cited by 279 publications

References 15 publications

Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of Larsen C Ice-Shelf thinning

Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of Larsen C Ice-Shelf thinning

Changes in ice dynamics and mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet

Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level

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