Massive subsurface ice formed by refreezing of ice-shelf melt ponds

Surface melt ponds form intermittently on several Antarctic ice shelves. Although implicated in ice-shelf break up, the consequences of such ponding for ice formation and ice-shelf structure have not been evaluated. Here we report the discovery of a massive subsurface ice layer, at least 16 km acros...

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Vydáno v:Nature communications Ročník 7; číslo 1; s. 11897 - 6
Hlavní autoři: Hubbard, Bryn, Luckman, Adrian, Ashmore, David W., Bevan, Suzanne, Kulessa, Bernd, Kuipers Munneke, Peter, Philippe, Morgane, Jansen, Daniela, Booth, Adam, Sevestre, Heidi, Tison, Jean-Louis, O’Leary, Martin, Rutt, Ian
Médium: Journal Article
Jazyk:angličtina
Vydáno: London Nature Publishing Group UK 10.06.2016
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Témata:
704/106/125
704/2151/213
704/2151/2809
Boreholes
Climate change
Firn
Global warming
Humanities and Social Sciences
Ice
Ice formation
Ice shelves
Land ice
Logging
multidisciplinary
Ponding
Ponds
Remote sensing
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
ISSN:2041-1723, 2041-1723
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Popis
Shrnutí:Surface melt ponds form intermittently on several Antarctic ice shelves. Although implicated in ice-shelf break up, the consequences of such ponding for ice formation and ice-shelf structure have not been evaluated. Here we report the discovery of a massive subsurface ice layer, at least 16 km across, several kilometres long and tens of metres deep, located in an area of intense melting and intermittent ponding on Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica. We combine borehole optical televiewer logging and radar measurements with remote sensing and firn modelling to investigate the layer, found to be ∼10 °C warmer and ∼170 kg m −3 denser than anticipated in the absence of ponding and hitherto used in models of ice-shelf fracture and flow. Surface ponding and ice layers such as the one we report are likely to form on a wider range of Antarctic ice shelves in response to climatic warming in forthcoming decades. The influence of surface ponding on the interior of ice shelves is currently unknown. Here, the authors combine surface and borehole geophysics on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica, with remote sensing and modelling and show how pond refreezing increases ice shelf density and temperature.
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ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms11897