Recent atmospheric warming and retreat of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula

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

doi:10.1038/379328a0

Cited by 534 publications

(395 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The susceptibility to break-up of eastern Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves has been highlighted over the last two decades by the well-documented collapse of the most northerly sections of Larsen Ice Shelf, Larsen A in 1995 (Rott et al, 1996;Vaughan and Doake, 1996) and Larsen B in 2002 (Glasser and Scambos, 2008). There is some evidence that the freshwater released after these break-ups has contributed to a significant freshening of the Antarctic Bottom Water produced in this region (Jullion et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…lies just to the south of these ice shelves, and is currently just beyond the encroaching −5 • C mean annual air temperature isotherm, the proposed heuristic limit of ice-shelf viability (Vaughan and Doake, 1996). Ice-shelf retreat has been attributed to atmospheric warming in a number of cases (Vaughan and Doake, 1996;Rott et al, 1998;Skvarca et al, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ice-shelf retreat has been attributed to atmospheric warming in a number of cases (Vaughan and Doake, 1996;Rott et al, 1998;Skvarca et al, 1999). Consequently, with the Antarctic Peninsula exhibiting one of Earth's highest rates of atmospheric warming (Vaughan et al, 2003), eventual break-up of the more southerly Larsen C Ice Shelf is likely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seabed topography beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf from seismic soundings

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Seismic reflection soundings of ice thickness and seabed depth were acquired on the Larsen C Ice Shelf in order to test a sub-ice shelf bathymetry model derived from the inversion of IceBridge gravity data. A series of lines was collected, from the Churchill Peninsula in the north to the Joerg Peninsula in the south, and also towards the ice front. Sites were selected using the bathymetry model derived from the inversion of free-air gravity data to indicate key regions where sub-ice shelf oceanic circulation may be affected by ice draft and seabed depth. The seismic velocity profile in the upper 100 m of firn and ice was derived from shallow refraction surveys at a number of locations. Measured temperatures within the ice column and at the ice base were used to define the velocity profile through the remainder of the ice column. Seismic velocities in the water column were derived from previous in situ measurements. Uncertainties in ice and water cavity thickness are in general <10 m. Compared with the seismic measurements, the rootmean-square error in the gravimetrically derived bathymetry at the seismic sites is 162 m. The seismic profiles prove the non-existence of several bathymetric features that are indicated in the gravity inversion model, significantly modifying the expected oceanic circulation beneath the ice shelf. Similar features have previously been shown to be highly significant in affecting basal melt rates predicted by ocean models. The discrepancies between the gravity inversion results and the seismic bathymetry are attributed to the assumption of uniform geology inherent in the gravity inversion process and also the sparsity of IceBridge flight lines. Results indicate that care must be taken when using bathymetry models derived by the inversion of free-air gravity anomalies. The bathymetry results presented here will be used to improve existing sub-ice shelf ocean circulation models.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seabed topography beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf from seismic soundings

et al. 2014

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“…This part of Antarctica has experienced rapid warming over the past 50 years (King et al, 2004) which has led, in turn, to significant deglaciation (Vaughan et al, 1996;Cook et al, 2005). Marshall et al (2006) suggest that warm air advection events have become more common in the northeast part of the Antarctic Peninsula in response to a strengthening of the circumpolar westerly winds, which has increased the frequency with which warm air masses are able to cross the mountain barrier of the Antarctic Peninsula.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne Measurements in the Stable Boundary Layer over the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica

King

Lachlan-Cope

Ladkin

et al. 2008

Boundary-Layer Meteorol

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“…At the present rate of thinning, they predict that it will take LCIS around 100 years to reach the thickness of Larsen B Ice Shelf at the time of that ice shelf's collapse. Other authors believe that the fundamental cause of the retreat of the northern Larsen ice shelves is atmospheric warming [Vaughan and Doake, 1996;Scambos et al, 2000;Morris and Vaughan, 2003].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summertime water masses off the northern Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Nicholls

Pudsey

Morris

2004

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] We report on oceanographic observations made at the northern end of Larsen C Ice Shelf in the western Weddell Sea. It appears that the Larsen C continental shelf is flushed not by High Salinity Shelf Water from the southern continental shelf, but by Modified Weddell Deep Water (MWDW) flowing across the shelf break. MWDW is observed at the ice front, having tracked west along the northward facing slopes of depressions that reach to the shelf break. Ice Shelf Water observed near the ice front is not, however, derived from MWDW directly, but from MWDW pre-conditioned by winter cooling and by salinification from sea ice production. If the ice shelf base generally is being melted only by pre-conditioned MWDW, then, contrary to recent suggestions, changes in the temperature of the deep Weddell Sea are unlikely to have a major impact on melt rates at the base of Larsen C Ice Shelf.

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Recent atmospheric warming and retreat of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula

Cited by 534 publications

References 24 publications

Seabed topography beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf from seismic soundings

Seabed topography beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf from seismic soundings

Airborne Measurements in the Stable Boundary Layer over the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Summertime water masses off the northern Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica

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