Showing papers by "Robert Bindschadler published in 1988"

Observed velocity fluctuations on a major Antarctic ice stream

Abstract: Most of the Antarctic ice sheet is drained by systems comprising an area of slow sheet flow which converges into a much faster valley glacier or ice stream. On reaching the coast, this ice then either enters an ice shelf confined by embayments and ice rises, or calves off into the ocean. The higher speed of ice streams enables them to respond to changes in their environment faster than the slower ice sheet. In the West Antarctic, where the ice sheet moves across bedrock well below sea level, the ice streams have the potential to rapidly increase or decrease the ice discharge into the sea1. The timescale for these changes has been placed at a few hundred years. If this is true, then changes should be detectable by careful measurements on a decadal timescale. By comparing recent ice velocity measurements with those collected ten years ago, we establish that the ice in the mouth of Ice Stream B has decelerated by ∼20%. We discuss the possible causes of this deceleration on the basis of our knowledge of the current regional dynamics, and the possible ramifications of this deceleration on future ice stream behaviour.

Mass-balance studies of Ice Streams A, B, and C, West Antarctica, and possible surging behavior of Ice Stream B

Abstract: Recent airborne radar sounding has made it possible to map accurately three of the West Antarctic ice streams that flow into Ross Ice Shelf. In previous work we have shown that ice streams A and Β have negative mass balances, whereas inactive Ice Stream C has a strongly positive balance. In this paper we examine in more detail the balance of ice streams A and Β by constructing several gates across them where velocities and ice thicknesses have been measured. We then examine the net fluxes in blocks of the ice streams delimited by successive pairs of gates. Ice Stream A as a whole is apparently discharging more ice than is being accumulated in the catchment area, and currently thinning at the rate of 0.08 ± 0.03 m a−1. The situation on Ice Stream Β is more complex. We have calculated separately the fluxes from tributary ice streams Bl and B2, and examined their individual fluxes within Ice Stream Β by tracing the suture zone between them down-stream of their confluence. The flow band that is the farthest up-stream (girdle), encompassing both Ice Stream Bl and Ice Stream B2, shows a strongly negative net flux that we attribute to lateral and headward expansion of the ice streams within the band. Such expansion can occur by lateral movement of an ice-stream boundary, by temporally accelerating ice flow at the head of the ice stream, or by activation of formerly slowly moving “island” or “peninsula” ice. The imbalance in this flow band, 8 ± 2 km3 a−1 (equivalent mean rate of change in ice thickness, is nearly half of the total excess outflow for the Ice Stream Β system (20 ± 4 km3 a−1), — the remainder is mostly the difference between flow through the uppermost gate and mass input to the catchment area . When for the whole of Ice Stream Β is plotted against the distance along the entire Ice Stream B, the overall pattern appears to be of mild thinning in the catchment, intense thinning in the girdle, and thickening in the main body of the ice stream, which decreases with distance from the girdle. This global behavior is suggestive of a major transient response, resulting from either a change in the internal dynamics or an internal adjustment to a change in the external forcings. We argue that there are a number of conditions which could lead to this type of response pattern. One possibility is a surge. Although the distribution of the changes in thickness is one characteristic of a surge, we caution that this alone is not sufficient to classify the behavior as a surge. Several other possibilities that support a picture of Ice Stream Β as a system in the process of dynamic change and in unsteady state are discussed. At present, Ice Stream C and its catchment area are thickening over their entire area The present surface elevation does not suggest that Ice Stream Β has captured part of Ice Stream C. Moreover, the shut-down of Ice Stream C and the large mass imbalance of Ice Stream Β are not related.

Thinning and Grounding-Line Retreat on Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Abstract: Detailed measurements of surface topography, ice motion, snow accumulation, and ice thickness were made in January 1974 and again in December 1984, along an 8 km stake network extending from the ice sheet, across the grounding line, and on to floating ice shelf in the mouth of slow-moving Ice Stream C, which flows into the eastern side of Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. During the 11 years between surveys, the grounding line retreated by approximately 300 m. This was caused by net thinning of the ice shelf, which we believe to be a response to the comparatively recent, major decrease in ice discharge from Ice Stream C. Farther inland, snow accumulation is not balanced by ice discharge, and the ice stream is growing progressively thicker. There is evidence that the adjacent Ice Stream B has slowed significantly over the last decade, and this may be an early indication that this fast-moving ice stream is about to enter a period of stagnation similar to that of Ice Stream C. Indeed, these large ice streams flowing from West Antarctica into Ross Ice Shelf may oscillate between periods of relative stagnation and major activity. During active periods, large areas of ice shelf thicken and run aground on seabed to form extensive “ice plains” in the mouth of the ice stream. Ultimately, these become too large to be pushed seaward by the ice stream, which then slows down and enters a period of stagnation. During this period, the grounding line of the ice plain retreats, as we observe today in the mouth of Ice Stream C, because nearby ice shelf, no longer compressed by ice-stream motion, progressively thins. At the same time, water within the deformable till beneath the ice starts to freeze on to the base of the ice stream, and snow accumulation progressively increases the ice thickness. A new phase of activity would be initiated when the increasing gravity potential of the ice stream exceeds the total resistance of the shrinking ice plain and the thinning layer of deformable till at the bed. This could occur rapidly if the effects of the shrinking ice plain outweigh those of the thinning (and therefore stiffening) till. Otherwise, the till layer would finally become completely frozen, and the ice stream would have to thicken sufficiently to initiate significant heating by internal deformation, followed by basal melting and finally saturation of an adequate thickness of till; this could take some thousands of years.

Ice-shelf flow at the boundary of Crary Ice Rise, Antarctica

Abstract: Surface velocity and deformation, radar sounding, and aerial photography data are used to describe the flow of Ross Ice Shelf around Crary Ice Rise. A continuous band of crevasses around the ice rise now allows the complete boundary to be mapped for the first time. The dynamics of three distinctly different areas of ice flow are studied. Just up-stream of the ice rise, there is a region of ice rumples dominated by intense longitudinal compression (0.01 a−1) and lateral tension. On the south-west side of the ice rise, intense shear (0.03 a−1) dominates, with the boundary layer of affected ice-shelf motion extending over 20 km from the ice-rise edge into the ice shelf. North-west of the ice rise, a crevasse-free block of ice, 40 km × 7 km, appears to have separated from the main ice rise and is now moving with the ice shelf. We refer to such moving blocks of ice as rafts. The separation of this raft is calculated to have occurred 20 ± 10 years ago. Other possible rafts are identified, including one on the south-west side of the ice rise which appears to be in the process of separating. Mechanisms for the formation of rafts are discussed.

Data report for the Siple Coast (Antarctica) project

Abstract: This report presents data collected during three field seasons of glaciological studies in the Antarctica and describes the methods employed The region investigated covers the mouths of Ice Streams B and C (the Siple Coast) and Crary Ice Rise on the Ross Ice Shelf Measurements included in the report are as follows: surface velocity and deformation from repeated satellite geoceiver positions; surface topography from optical levelling; radar sounding of ice thickness; accumulation rates; near-surface densities and temperature profiles; and mapping from aerial photography