Brief Communication: Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf presents significant risk to stability

Jansen, D.; Luckman, A.J.; Cook, A.; Bevan, S.; Kulessa, B.; Hubbard, B.; Holland, P.R.

doi:10.5194/tc-9-1223-2015

Brief Communication: Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf presents significant risk to stability

Jansen, D.; Luckman, A.J.; Cook, A.; Bevan, S.; Kulessa, B.; Hubbard, B.; Holland, P.R.

Authors

D. Jansen

A.J. Luckman

A. Cook

S. Bevan

B. Kulessa

B. Hubbard

P.R. Holland

Abstract

An established rift in the Larsen C Ice Shelf, formerly constrained by a suture zone containing marine ice, grew rapidly during 2014 and is likely in the near future to generate the largest calving event since the 1980s and result in a new minimum area for the ice shelf. Here we investigate the recent development of the rift, quantify the projected calving event and, using a numerical model, assess its likely impact on ice shelf stability. We find that the ice front is at risk of becoming unstable when the anticipated calving event occurs.

Citation

Jansen, D., Luckman, A., Cook, A., Bevan, S., Kulessa, B., Hubbard, B., & Holland, P. (2015). Brief Communication: Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf presents significant risk to stability. The Cryosphere, 9(3), 1223-1227. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1223-2015

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jun 15, 2015
Deposit Date	Oct 7, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Apr 6, 2016
Journal	Cryosphere
Electronic ISSN	1994-0424
Publisher	Copernicus Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	9
Issue	3
Pages	1223-1227
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1223-2015