Swirls and scoops: Ice base melt revealed by multibeam imagery of an Antarctic ice shelf

Wåhlin, Anna, Alley, Karen E., Begeman, Carolyn, Hegrenæs, Øyvind, Yuan, Xiaohan, Graham, Alastair G. C., Hogan, Kelly, Davis, Peter E. D., Dotto, Tiago S., Eayrs, Clare, Hall, Robert A., Holland, David M., Kim, Tae Wan, Larter, Robert D., Ling, Li, Muto, Atsuhiro, Pettit, Erin C., Schmidt, Britney E., Snow, Tasha, Stedt, Filip, Washam, Peter M., Wahlgren, Stina, Wild, Christian, Wellner, Julia, Zheng, Yixi and Heywood, Karen J. 2024. Swirls and scoops: Ice base melt revealed by multibeam imagery of an Antarctic ice shelf. Science Advances 10 (31) , eadn9188. 10.1126/sciadv.adn9188

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Abstract

Knowledge gaps about how the ocean melts Antarctica’s ice shelves, borne from a lack of observations, lead to large uncertainties in sea level predictions. Using high-resolution maps of the underside of Dotson Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, we reveal the imprint that ice shelf basal melting leaves on the ice. Convection and intermittent warm water intrusions form widespread terraced features through slow melting in quiescent areas, while shear-driven turbulence rapidly melts smooth, eroded topographies in outflow areas, as well as enigmatic teardrop-shaped indentations that result from boundary-layer flow rotation. Full-thickness ice fractures, with bases modified by basal melting and convective processes, are observed throughout the area. This new wealth of processes, all active under a single ice shelf, must be considered to accurately predict future Antarctic ice shelf melt.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	American Association for the Advancement of Science
ISSN:	2375-2548
Funders:	NERC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 August 2024
Date of Acceptance:	24 June 2024
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2024 10:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/171578

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