Recent dramatic thinning of largest West-Antarctic ice stream triggered by oceans

Payne, A.J.; Vieli, A.; Shepherd, A.P.; Wingham, D.J.; Rignot, E.

doi:10.1029/2004gl021284

Recent dramatic thinning of largest West-Antarctic ice stream triggered by oceans

Payne, A.J.; Vieli, A.; Shepherd, A.P.; Wingham, D.J.; Rignot, E.

Authors

A.J. Payne

A. Vieli

A.P. Shepherd

D.J. Wingham

E. Rignot

Abstract

A growing body of observational data suggests that Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is changing on decadal or shorter timescales. These changes may have far-reaching consequences for the future of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) and global sea levels because of PIG's role as the ice sheet's primary drainage portal. We test the hypothesis that these changes are triggered by the adjoining ocean. Specifically, we employ an advanced numerical ice-flow model to simulate the effects of perturbations at the grounding line on PIG's dynamics. The speed at which these changes are propagated upstream implies a tight coupling between ice-sheet interior and surrounding ocean.

Citation

Payne, A., Vieli, A., Shepherd, A., Wingham, D., & Rignot, E. (2004). Recent dramatic thinning of largest West-Antarctic ice stream triggered by oceans. Geophysical Research Letters, 31, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004gl021284

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	2004
Deposit Date	Oct 6, 2008
Publicly Available Date	Mar 18, 2010
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Print ISSN	0094-8276
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	31
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1029/2004gl021284
Keywords	Hydrology, Glaciology, Mathematical Geophysics, Modeling, Information Related to Geographic Region, Antarctica.

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Copyright Statement
© 2004 American Geophysical Union.
Payne, A. J. and Vieli, A. and Shepherd, A. P. and Wingham, D. J. and Rignot, E., (2004),
'Recent dramatic thinning of largest West-Antarctic ice stream triggered by oceans.',
Geophysical research letters., 31., L23401., 10.1029/2004GL021284 (DOI). To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.