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Wild, Christian T., Kachuck, Samuel B., Luckman, Adrian, Alley, Karen E., Sharp, Meghan A., Smith, Haylee, Tyler, Scott W., Kratt, Christopher, Dotto, Tiago S., Price, Daniel, Nicholls, Keith W., Bevan, Suzanne L., Collao-Barrios, Gabriela, Muto, Atsuhiro, Truffer, Martin, Scambos, Ted A., Heywood, Karen J. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9859-0026 and Pettit, Erin C.
(2024)
Rift propagation signals the last act of the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf despite low basal melt rates.
Journal of Glaciology.
ISSN 0022-1430
Abstract
Rift propagation, rather than basal melt, drives the destabilization and disintegration of the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf. Since 2016, rifts have episodically advanced throughout the central ice-shelf area, with rapid propagation events occurring during austral spring. The ice shelf's speed has increased by ~70% during this period, transitioning from a rate of 1.65 m d−1 in 2019 to 2.85 m d−1 by early 2023 in the central area. The increase in longitudinal strain rates near the grounding zone has led to full-thickness rifts and melange-filled gaps since 2020. A recent sea-ice break out has accelerated retreat at the western calving front, effectively separating the ice shelf from what remained of its northwestern pinning point. Meanwhile, a distributed set of phase-sensitive radar measurements indicates that the basal melting rate is generally small, likely due to a widespread robust ocean stratification beneath the ice–ocean interface that suppresses basal melt despite the presence of substantial oceanic heat at depth. These observations in combination with damage modeling show that, while ocean forcing is responsible for triggering the current West Antarctic ice retreat, the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf is experiencing dynamic feedbacks over decadal timescales that are driving ice-shelf disintegration, now independent of basal melt.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Data availability statement: The ApRES and DTS data will be accessible through the USAP-DC upon acceptance of this article (https://www.usap-dc.org/view/project/p0010162). Sentinel-1 imagery is available from the Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/). Velocity fields from Sentinel-1 are available from A.L. Picks of rifts and other surface features are available from C.T.W. Python code for modeling damage along flowlines will be accessible through S.B.K.'s GitHub account. All other data sources mentioned in this study are detailed within the text. Funding information: This research is from the TARSAN and DOMINOS projects, components of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). Support is received from National Science Foundation (NSF: grant 1929991) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC: grant NE/S006419/1). Logistics provided by NSF-US Antarctic Program and NERC-British Antarctic Survey is acknowledged. ITGC Contribution No. ITGC-123. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | antarctic glaciology,crevasses,ice-shelf break-up,ocean interactions,melt - basal,earth-surface processes ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1904 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Aug 2024 15:30 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Oct 2024 09:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/96255 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/jog.2024.64 |
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