Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-887-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-887-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
An updated seabed bathymetry beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council,
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Bernd Kulessa
Glaciology Group, College of Science, Swansea University, Singleton
Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
Thomas Hudson
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council,
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Lianne Harrison
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council,
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Paul Holland
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council,
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Adrian Luckman
Glaciology Group, College of Science, Swansea University, Singleton
Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
Suzanne Bevan
Glaciology Group, College of Science, Swansea University, Singleton
Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
David Ashmore
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool,
L69 7ZT, UK
Bryn Hubbard
Centre for Glaciology, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences,
Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK
Emma Pearce
Institute of Applied Geoscience, School of Earth and Environment,
University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
James White
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK
Adam Booth
Institute of Applied Geoscience, School of Earth and Environment,
University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
Keith Nicholls
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council,
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Andrew Smith
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council,
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Related authors
Thomas Samuel Hudson, Alex M. Brisbourne, Sofia-Katerina Kufner, J.-Michael Kendall, and Andy M. Smith
The Cryosphere, 17, 4979–4993, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4979-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4979-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Earthquakes (or icequakes) at glaciers can shed light on fundamental glacier processes. These include glacier slip, crevassing, and imaging ice structure. To date, most studies use networks of seismometers, primarily sensitive to icequakes within the spatial extent of the network. However, arrays of seismometers allow us to detect icequakes at far greater distances. Here, we investigate the potential of such array-processing methods for studying icequakes at glaciers.
Alex M. Brisbourne, Michael Kendall, Sofia-Katerina Kufner, Thomas S. Hudson, and Andrew M. Smith
The Cryosphere, 15, 3443–3458, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3443-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3443-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
How ice sheets flowed in the past is written into the structure and texture of the ice sheet itself. Measuring this structure and properties of the ice can help us understand the recent behaviour of the ice sheets. We use a relatively new technique, not previously attempted in Antarctica, to measure the seismic vibrations of a fibre optic cable down a borehole. We demonstrate the potential of this technique to unravel past ice flow and see hints of these complex signals from the ice flow itself.
Felipe Napoleoni, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Neil Ross, Michael J. Bentley, Andrés Rivera, Andrew M. Smith, Martin J. Siegert, Guy J. G. Paxman, Guisella Gacitúa, José A. Uribe, Rodrigo Zamora, Alex M. Brisbourne, and David G. Vaughan
The Cryosphere, 14, 4507–4524, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4507-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4507-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Subglacial water is important for ice sheet dynamics and stability. Despite this, there is a lack of detailed subglacial-water characterisation in West Antarctica (WA). We report 33 new subglacial lakes. Additionally, a new digital elevation model of basal topography was built and used to simulate the subglacial hydrological network in WA. The simulated subglacial hydrological catchments of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers do not match precisely with their ice surface catchments.
Damon Davies, Robert G. Bingham, Edward C. King, Andrew M. Smith, Alex M. Brisbourne, Matteo Spagnolo, Alastair G. C. Graham, Anna E. Hogg, and David G. Vaughan
The Cryosphere, 12, 1615–1628, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1615-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1615-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper investigates the dynamics of ice stream beds using repeat geophysical surveys of the bed of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica; 60 km of the bed was surveyed, comprising the most extensive repeat ground-based geophysical surveys of an Antarctic ice stream; 90 % of the surveyed bed shows no significant change despite the glacier increasing in speed by up to 40 % over the last decade. This result suggests that ice stream beds are potentially more stable than previously suggested.
P. R. Holland, A. Brisbourne, H. F. J. Corr, D. McGrath, K. Purdon, J. Paden, H. A. Fricker, F. S. Paolo, and A. H. Fleming
The Cryosphere, 9, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1005-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1005-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves have collapsed in recent decades. The surface of Larsen C Ice Shelf is lowering, but the cause of this has not been understood. This study uses eight radar surveys to show that the lowering is caused by both ice loss and a loss of air from the ice shelf's snowpack. At least two different processes are causing the lowering. The stability of Larsen C may be at risk from an ungrounding of Bawden Ice Rise or ice-front retreat past a 'compressive arch' in strain rates.
A. M. Brisbourne, A. M. Smith, E. C. King, K. W. Nicholls, P. R. Holland, and K. Makinson
The Cryosphere, 8, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1-2014, 2014
Oliver J. Marsh, Adrian J. Luckman, and Dominic A. Hodgson
The Cryosphere, 18, 705–710, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-705-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-705-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Brunt Ice Shelf has accelerated rapidly after calving an iceberg in January 2023. A decade of GPS data show that the rate of acceleration in August 2023 was 30 times higher than before calving, and velocity has doubled in 6 months. Satellite velocity maps show the extent of the change. The acceleration is due to loss of contact between the ice shelf and a pinning point known as the McDonald Ice Rumples. The observations highlight how iceberg calving can directly impact ice shelves.
Siobhan F. Killingbeck, Anja Rutishauser, Martyn J. Unsworth, Ashley Dubnick, Alison S. Criscitiello, James Killingbeck, Christine F. Dow, Tim Hill, Adam D. Booth, Brittany Main, and Eric Brossier
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-279, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-279, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study presents a new interpretation from surface-based geophysical data of the subglacial material beneath Devon Ice Cap in the Canadian Arctic, where a subglacial lake was thought to exist based on the analysis of airborne geophysical data. Here, we demonstrate that there is no evidence of subglacial water, and the subglacial lake has likely been misidentified.
Caroline R. Holmes, Thomas J. Bracegirdle, Paul R. Holland, Julienne Stroeve, and Jeremy Wilkinson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2881, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2881, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Until recently, observed Antarctic sea ice was increasing, while in contrast numerical climate models simulated a decrease over the same period (1979–2014). This apparent mismatch was one reason for low confidence in model projections of large 21st century sea ice loss and related aspects of Southern Hemisphere climate. Here we show that, with the inclusion of several low Antarctic sea ice years (notably 2017, 2022 and 2023), we can no longer conclude that modelled and observed trends differ.
Jean-Baptiste Sallée, Lucie Vignes, Audrey Minière, Nadine Steiger, Etienne Pauthenet, Antonio Lourenco, Kevin Speer, Peter Lazarevich, and Keith Nicholls
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2952, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2952, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the Weddell Sea, one of the regional seas fringing Antarctica, we investigated how warm deep currents and cold waters containing freshwater released from the Antarctic are connected. We used autonomous observation devices never been used in this region previously that allow us to track the movement and characteristics of water-masses under the sea ice. Our findings show a dynamic interaction between warm-masses, providing key insights to understand climate-related changes in the region.
Thomas Samuel Hudson, Alex M. Brisbourne, Sofia-Katerina Kufner, J.-Michael Kendall, and Andy M. Smith
The Cryosphere, 17, 4979–4993, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4979-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4979-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Earthquakes (or icequakes) at glaciers can shed light on fundamental glacier processes. These include glacier slip, crevassing, and imaging ice structure. To date, most studies use networks of seismometers, primarily sensitive to icequakes within the spatial extent of the network. However, arrays of seismometers allow us to detect icequakes at far greater distances. Here, we investigate the potential of such array-processing methods for studying icequakes at glaciers.
Felicity S. McCormack, Jason L. Roberts, Bernd Kulessa, Alan Aitken, Christine F. Dow, Lawrence Bird, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Katharina Hochmuth, Richard S. Jones, Andrew N. Mackintosh, and Koi McArthur
The Cryosphere, 17, 4549–4569, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4549-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4549-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Changes in Antarctic surface elevation can cause changes in ice and basal water flow, impacting how much ice enters the ocean. We find that ice and basal water flow could divert from the Totten to the Vanderford Glacier, East Antarctica, under only small changes in the surface elevation, with implications for estimates of ice loss from this region. Further studies are needed to determine when this could occur and if similar diversions could occur elsewhere in Antarctica due to climate change.
Gemma K. O'Connor, Paul R. Holland, Eric J. Steig, Pierre Dutrieux, and Gregory J. Hakim
The Cryosphere, 17, 4399–4420, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4399-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4399-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Glaciers in West Antarctica are rapidly melting, but the causes are unknown due to limited observations. A leading hypothesis is that an unusually large wind event in the 1940s initiated the ocean-driven melting. Using proxy reconstructions (e.g., using ice cores) and climate model simulations, we find that wind events similar to the 1940s event are relatively common on millennial timescales, implying that ocean variability or climate trends are also necessary to explain the start of ice loss.
Anja Løkkegaard, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Christian Zdanowicz, Gary D. Clow, Martin P. Lüthi, Samuel H. Doyle, Henrik H. Thomsen, David Fisher, Joel Harper, Andy Aschwanden, Bo M. Vinther, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Harry Zekollari, Toby Meierbachtol, Ian McDowell, Neil Humphrey, Anne Solgaard, Nanna B. Karlsson, Shfaqat A. Khan, Benjamin Hills, Robert Law, Bryn Hubbard, Poul Christoffersen, Mylène Jacquemart, Julien Seguinot, Robert S. Fausto, and William T. Colgan
The Cryosphere, 17, 3829–3845, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3829-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3829-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a database compiling 95 ice temperature profiles from the Greenland ice sheet and peripheral ice caps. Ice viscosity and hence ice flow are highly sensitive to ice temperature. To highlight the value of the database in evaluating ice flow simulations, profiles from the Greenland ice sheet are compared to a modeled temperature field. Reoccurring discrepancies between modeled and observed temperatures provide insight on the difficulties faced when simulating ice temperatures.
Erwin Lambert, André Jüling, Roderik S. W. van de Wal, and Paul R. Holland
The Cryosphere, 17, 3203–3228, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3203-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3203-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A major uncertainty in the study of sea level rise is the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet by the ocean. Here, we have developed a new model, named LADDIE, that simulates this ocean-driven melting of the floating parts of the Antarctic ice sheet. This model simulates fine-scale patterns of melting and freezing and requires significantly fewer computational resources than state-of-the-art ocean models. LADDIE can be used as a new tool to force high-resolution ice sheet models.
Rebecca B. Latto, Ross J. Turner, Anya M. Reading, Sue Cook, Bernd Kulessa, and J. Paul Winberry
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1341, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1341, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Seismic catalogues are potentially rich sources of information on glacier processes. In a companion study, we constructed an event catalogue for seismic data from the Whillans Ice Stream. Here, we provide a semi-automated workflow for consistent catalogue analysis using an unsupervised cluster analysis. We discuss the defining characteristics of identified signal types found in this catalogue, and possible mechanisms for the underlying glacier processes and noise sources.
Alice C. Frémand, Peter Fretwell, Julien A. Bodart, Hamish D. Pritchard, Alan Aitken, Jonathan L. Bamber, Robin Bell, Cesidio Bianchi, Robert G. Bingham, Donald D. Blankenship, Gino Casassa, Ginny Catania, Knut Christianson, Howard Conway, Hugh F. J. Corr, Xiangbin Cui, Detlef Damaske, Volkmar Damm, Reinhard Drews, Graeme Eagles, Olaf Eisen, Hannes Eisermann, Fausto Ferraccioli, Elena Field, René Forsberg, Steven Franke, Shuji Fujita, Yonggyu Gim, Vikram Goel, Siva Prasad Gogineni, Jamin Greenbaum, Benjamin Hills, Richard C. A. Hindmarsh, Andrew O. Hoffman, Per Holmlund, Nicholas Holschuh, John W. Holt, Annika N. Horlings, Angelika Humbert, Robert W. Jacobel, Daniela Jansen, Adrian Jenkins, Wilfried Jokat, Tom Jordan, Edward King, Jack Kohler, William Krabill, Mette Kusk Gillespie, Kirsty Langley, Joohan Lee, German Leitchenkov, Carlton Leuschen, Bruce Luyendyk, Joseph MacGregor, Emma MacKie, Kenichi Matsuoka, Mathieu Morlighem, Jérémie Mouginot, Frank O. Nitsche, Yoshifumi Nogi, Ole A. Nost, John Paden, Frank Pattyn, Sergey V. Popov, Eric Rignot, David M. Rippin, Andrés Rivera, Jason Roberts, Neil Ross, Anotonia Ruppel, Dustin M. Schroeder, Martin J. Siegert, Andrew M. Smith, Daniel Steinhage, Michael Studinger, Bo Sun, Ignazio Tabacco, Kirsty Tinto, Stefano Urbini, David Vaughan, Brian C. Welch, Douglas S. Wilson, Duncan A. Young, and Achille Zirizzotti
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2695–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2695-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2695-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents the release of over 60 years of ice thickness, bed elevation, and surface elevation data acquired over Antarctica by the international community. These data are a crucial component of the Antarctic Bedmap initiative which aims to produce a new map and datasets of Antarctic ice thickness and bed topography for the international glaciology and geophysical community.
David T. Bett, Alexander T. Bradley, C. Rosie Williams, Paul R. Holland, Robert J. Arthern, and Daniel N. Goldberg
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-77, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-77, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for TC
Short summary
Short summary
A new specialised ice/ocean coupled model simulates the future ice sheet evolution in the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica. The model predicts substantial ocean-driven ice retreat over the 125-year simulations. The future of small ‘pinning points’ (islands of grounded ice) are an important control on this evolution. Ocean melting is crucial in ungrounding these pinning points, providing the mechanism by which future climate change may affect the sea level contribution from this sector.
Julien A. Bodart, Robert G. Bingham, Duncan A. Young, Joseph A. MacGregor, David W. Ashmore, Enrica Quartini, Andrew S. Hein, David G. Vaughan, and Donald D. Blankenship
The Cryosphere, 17, 1497–1512, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1497-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1497-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Estimating how West Antarctica will change in response to future climatic change depends on our understanding of past ice processes. Here, we use a reflector widely visible on airborne radar data across West Antarctica to estimate accumulation rates over the past 4700 years. By comparing our estimates with current atmospheric data, we find that accumulation rates were 18 % greater than modern rates. This has implications for our understanding of past ice processes in the region.
Sarah S. Thompson, Bernd Kulessa, Adrian Luckman, Jacqueline A. Halpin, Jamin S. Greenbaum, Tyler Pelle, Feras Habbal, Jingxue Guo, Lenneke M. Jong, Jason L. Roberts, Bo Sun, and Donald D. Blankenship
The Cryosphere, 17, 157–174, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-157-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-157-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We use satellite imagery and ice penetrating radar to investigate the stability of the Shackleton system in East Antarctica. We find significant changes in surface structures across the system and observe a significant increase in ice flow speed (up to 50 %) on the floating part of Scott Glacier. We conclude that knowledge remains woefully insufficient to explain recent observed changes in the grounded and floating regions of the system.
Paul R. Holland, Gemma K. O'Connor, Thomas J. Bracegirdle, Pierre Dutrieux, Kaitlin A. Naughten, Eric J. Steig, David P. Schneider, Adrian Jenkins, and James A. Smith
The Cryosphere, 16, 5085–5105, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5085-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-5085-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing ice, causing sea-level rise. However, it is not known whether human-induced climate change has contributed to this ice loss. In this study, we use evidence from climate models and palaeoclimate measurements (e.g. ice cores) to suggest that the ice loss was triggered by natural climate variations but is now sustained by human-forced climate change. This implies that future greenhouse-gas emissions may influence sea-level rise from Antarctica.
Angelika Humbert, Julia Christmann, Hugh F. J. Corr, Veit Helm, Lea-Sophie Höyns, Coen Hofstede, Ralf Müller, Niklas Neckel, Keith W. Nicholls, Timm Schultz, Daniel Steinhage, Michael Wolovick, and Ole Zeising
The Cryosphere, 16, 4107–4139, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4107-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4107-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Ice shelves are normally flat structures that fringe the Antarctic continent. At some locations they have channels incised into their underside. On Filchner Ice Shelf, such a channel is more than 50 km long and up to 330 m high. We conducted field measurements of basal melt rates and found a maximum of 2 m yr−1. Simulations represent the geometry evolution of the channel reasonably well. There is no reason to assume that this type of melt channel is destabilizing ice shelves.
Antony Siahaan, Robin S. Smith, Paul R. Holland, Adrian Jenkins, Jonathan M. Gregory, Victoria Lee, Pierre Mathiot, Antony J. Payne, Jeff K. Ridley, and Colin G. Jones
The Cryosphere, 16, 4053–4086, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4053-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4053-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The UK Earth System Model is the first to fully include interactions of the atmosphere and ocean with the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Under the low-greenhouse-gas SSP1–1.9 (Shared Socioeconomic Pathway) scenario, the ice sheet remains stable over the 21st century. Under the strong-greenhouse-gas SSP5–8.5 scenario, the model predicts strong increases in melting of large ice shelves and snow accumulation on the surface. The dominance of accumulation leads to a sea level fall at the end of the century.
Sophie Goliber, Taryn Black, Ginny Catania, James M. Lea, Helene Olsen, Daniel Cheng, Suzanne Bevan, Anders Bjørk, Charlie Bunce, Stephen Brough, J. Rachel Carr, Tom Cowton, Alex Gardner, Dominik Fahrner, Emily Hill, Ian Joughin, Niels J. Korsgaard, Adrian Luckman, Twila Moon, Tavi Murray, Andrew Sole, Michael Wood, and Enze Zhang
The Cryosphere, 16, 3215–3233, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3215-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3215-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Terminus traces have been used to understand how Greenland's glaciers have changed over time; however, manual digitization is time-intensive, and a lack of coordination leads to duplication of efforts. We have compiled a dataset of over 39 000 terminus traces for 278 glaciers for scientific and machine learning applications. We also provide an overview of an updated version of the Google Earth Engine Digitization Tool (GEEDiT), which has been developed specifically for the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Douglas I. Benn, Adrian Luckman, Jan A. Åström, Anna J. Crawford, Stephen L. Cornford, Suzanne L. Bevan, Thomas Zwinger, Rupert Gladstone, Karen Alley, Erin Pettit, and Jeremy Bassis
The Cryosphere, 16, 2545–2564, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2545-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Thwaites Glacier (TG), in West Antarctica, is potentially unstable and may contribute significantly to sea-level rise as global warming continues. Using satellite data, we show that Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, the largest remaining floating extension of TG, has started to accelerate as it fragments along a shear zone. Computer modelling does not indicate that fragmentation will lead to imminent glacier collapse, but it is clear that major, rapid, and unpredictable changes are underway.
Johannes Oerlemans, Jack Kohler, and Adrian Luckman
The Cryosphere, 16, 2115–2126, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2115-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2115-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Tunabreen is a 26 km long tidewater glacier. It is the most frequently surging glacier in Svalbard, with four documented surges in the past 100 years. We have modelled this glacier to find out how it reacts to future climate change. Careful calibration was done against the observed length record for the past 100 years. For a 50 m increase in the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) the length of the glacier will be shortened by 10 km after about 100 years.
Ole Zeising, Daniel Steinhage, Keith W. Nicholls, Hugh F. J. Corr, Craig L. Stewart, and Angelika Humbert
The Cryosphere, 16, 1469–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1469-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1469-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Remote-sensing-derived basal melt rates of ice shelves are of great importance due to their capability to cover larger areas. We performed in situ measurements with a phase-sensitive radar on the southern Filchner Ice Shelf, showing moderate melt rates and low small-scale spatial variability. The comparison with remote-sensing-based melt rates revealed large differences caused by the estimation of vertical strain rates from remote sensing velocity fields that modern fields can overcome.
David W. Ashmore, Douglas W. F. Mair, Jonathan E. Higham, Stephen Brough, James M. Lea, and Isabel J. Nias
The Cryosphere, 16, 219–236, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-219-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-219-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper we explore the use of a transferrable and flexible statistical technique to try and untangle the multiple influences on marine-terminating glacier dynamics, as measured from space. We decompose a satellite-derived ice velocity record into ranked sets of static maps and temporal coefficients. We present evidence that the approach can identify velocity variability mainly driven by changes in terminus position and velocity variation mainly driven by subglacial hydrological processes.
Karen E. Alley, Christian T. Wild, Adrian Luckman, Ted A. Scambos, Martin Truffer, Erin C. Pettit, Atsuhiro Muto, Bruce Wallin, Marin Klinger, Tyler Sutterley, Sarah F. Child, Cyrus Hulen, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Michelle Maclennan, Eric Keenan, and Devon Dunmire
The Cryosphere, 15, 5187–5203, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5187-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5187-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 20-year, satellite-based record of velocity and thickness change on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS), the largest remaining floating extension of Thwaites Glacier (TG). TG holds the single greatest control on sea-level rise over the next few centuries, so it is important to understand changes on the TEIS, which controls much of TG's flow into the ocean. Our results suggest that the TEIS is progressively destabilizing and is likely to disintegrate over the next few decades.
Trude Eidhammer, Adam Booth, Sven Decker, Lu Li, Michael Barlage, David Gochis, Roy Rasmussen, Kjetil Melvold, Atle Nesje, and Stefan Sobolowski
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4275–4297, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4275-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4275-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We coupled a detailed snow–ice model (Crocus) to represent glaciers in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-Hydro model and tested it on a well-studied glacier. Several observational systems were used to evaluate the system, i.e., satellites, ground-penetrating radar (used over the glacier for snow depth) and stake observations for glacier mass balance and discharge measurements in rivers from the glacier. Results showed improvements in the streamflow projections when including the model.
Alex M. Brisbourne, Michael Kendall, Sofia-Katerina Kufner, Thomas S. Hudson, and Andrew M. Smith
The Cryosphere, 15, 3443–3458, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3443-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3443-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
How ice sheets flowed in the past is written into the structure and texture of the ice sheet itself. Measuring this structure and properties of the ice can help us understand the recent behaviour of the ice sheets. We use a relatively new technique, not previously attempted in Antarctica, to measure the seismic vibrations of a fibre optic cable down a borehole. We demonstrate the potential of this technique to unravel past ice flow and see hints of these complex signals from the ice flow itself.
Suzanne L. Bevan, Adrian J. Luckman, Douglas I. Benn, Susheel Adusumilli, and Anna Crawford
The Cryosphere, 15, 3317–3328, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3317-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3317-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet depends on the behaviour of the fast-flowing glaciers, such as Thwaites, that connect it to the ocean. Here we show that a large ocean-melted cavity beneath Thwaites Glacier has remained stable since it first formed, implying that, in line with current theory, basal melt is now concentrated close to where the ice first goes afloat. We also show that Thwaites Glacier continues to thin and to speed up and that continued retreat is therefore likely.
Xuewei Li, Qinghua Yang, Lejiang Yu, Paul R. Holland, Chao Min, Longjiang Mu, and Dake Chen
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-359, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-359, 2021
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic sea ice thickness record minimum is confirmed occurring in autumn 2011. The dynamic and thermodynamic processes leading to the minimum thickness is analyzed based on a daily sea ice thickness reanalysis data covering the melting season. The results demonstrate that the dynamic transport of multiyear ice and the subsequent surface energy budget response is a critical mechanism actively contributing to the evolution of Arctic sea ice thickness in 2011.
Felipe Napoleoni, Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Neil Ross, Michael J. Bentley, Andrés Rivera, Andrew M. Smith, Martin J. Siegert, Guy J. G. Paxman, Guisella Gacitúa, José A. Uribe, Rodrigo Zamora, Alex M. Brisbourne, and David G. Vaughan
The Cryosphere, 14, 4507–4524, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4507-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4507-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Subglacial water is important for ice sheet dynamics and stability. Despite this, there is a lack of detailed subglacial-water characterisation in West Antarctica (WA). We report 33 new subglacial lakes. Additionally, a new digital elevation model of basal topography was built and used to simulate the subglacial hydrological network in WA. The simulated subglacial hydrological catchments of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers do not match precisely with their ice surface catchments.
Suzanne Bevan, Adrian Luckman, Harry Hendon, and Guomin Wang
The Cryosphere, 14, 3551–3564, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3551-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3551-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In February 2020, along with record-breaking high temperatures in the region, satellite images showed that the surface of the largest remaining ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula was experiencing a lot of melt. Using archived satellite data we show that this melt was greater than any in the past 40 years. The extreme melt followed unusual weather patterns further north, highlighting the importance of long-range links between the tropics and high latitudes and the impact on ice-shelf stability.
Siobhan F. Killingbeck, Adam D. Booth, Philip W. Livermore, C. Richard Bates, and Landis J. West
Solid Earth, 11, 75–94, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-75-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-75-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents MuLTI-TEM, a Bayesian inversion tool for inverting TEM data with independent depth constraints to provide statistical properties and uncertainty analysis of the resistivity profile with depth. MuLTI-TEM is highly versatile, being compatible with most TEM survey designs, ground-based or airborne, along with the depth constraints being provided from any external source. Here, we present an application of MuLTI-TEM to characterise the subglacial water under a Norwegian glacier.
Adam J. Hepburn, Tom Holt, Bryn Hubbard, and Felix Ng
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 8, 293–313, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-8-293-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-8-293-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Currently, there exist thousands of unprocessed stereo pairs of satellite imagery which can be used to create models of the surface of Mars. This paper sets out a new open–source and free to use pipeline for creating these models. Our pipeline produces models of comparable quality to the limited number released to date but remains free to use and easily implemented by researchers, who may not necessarily have prior experience of DEM creation.
Katrin Lindbäck, Geir Moholdt, Keith W. Nicholls, Tore Hattermann, Bhanu Pratap, Meloth Thamban, and Kenichi Matsuoka
The Cryosphere, 13, 2579–2595, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2579-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2579-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we used a ground-penetrating radar technique to measure melting at high precision under Nivlisen, an ice shelf in central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. We found that summer-warmed ocean surface waters can increase melting close to the ice shelf front. Our study shows the use of and need for measurements in the field to monitor Antarctica's coastal margins; these detailed variations in basal melting are not captured in satellite data but are vital to predict future changes.
Suzanne L. Bevan, Adrian J. Luckman, Douglas I. Benn, Tom Cowton, and Joe Todd
The Cryosphere, 13, 2303–2315, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2303-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2303-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Kangerlussuaq Glacier in Greenland retreated significantly in the early 2000s and typified the response of calving glaciers to climate change. Satellite images show that it has recently retreated even further. The current retreat follows the appearance of extremely warm surface waters on the continental shelf during the summer of 2016, which likely entered the fjord and caused the rigid mass of sea ice and icebergs, which normally inhibits calving, to melt and break up.
Benedict T. I. Reinardy, Adam D. Booth, Anna L. C. Hughes, Clare M. Boston, Henning Åkesson, Jostein Bakke, Atle Nesje, Rianne H. Giesen, and Danni M. Pearce
The Cryosphere, 13, 827–843, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-827-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-827-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Cold-ice processes may be widespread within temperate glacier systems but the role of cold-ice processes in temperate glacier systems is relatively unknown. Climate forcing is the main control on glacier mass balance but potential for heterogeneous thermal conditions at temperate glaciers calls for improved model assessments of future evolution of thermal conditions and impacts on glacier dynamics and mass balance. Cold-ice processes need to be included in temperate glacier land system models.
Dominic A. Hodgson, Tom A. Jordan, Jan De Rydt, Peter T. Fretwell, Samuel A. Seddon, David Becker, Kelly A. Hogan, Andrew M. Smith, and David G. Vaughan
The Cryosphere, 13, 545–556, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-545-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-545-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica is home to Halley VIa, the latest in a series of six British research stations that have occupied the ice shelf since 1956. A recent rapid growth of rifts in the Brunt Ice Shelf signals the onset of its largest calving event since records began. Here we consider whether this calving event will lead to a new steady state for the ice shelf or an unpinning from the bed, which could predispose it to accelerated flow or collapse.
Chen Cheng, Adrian Jenkins, Paul R. Holland, Zhaomin Wang, Chengyan Liu, and Ruibin Xia
The Cryosphere, 13, 265–280, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-265-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-265-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The sub-ice platelet layer (SIPL) under fast ice is most prevalent in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Using a modified plume model, we investigated the responses of SIPL thickening rate and frazil concentration to variations in ice shelf water supercooling in McMurdo Sound. It would be key to parameterizing the relevant process in more complex three-dimensional, primitive equation ocean models, which relies on the knowledge of the suspended frazil size spectrum within the ice–ocean boundary layer.
Evan S. Miles, C. Scott Watson, Fanny Brun, Etienne Berthier, Michel Esteves, Duncan J. Quincey, Katie E. Miles, Bryn Hubbard, and Patrick Wagnon
The Cryosphere, 12, 3891–3905, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3891-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3891-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We use high-resolution satellite imagery and field visits to assess the growth and drainage of a lake on Changri Shar Glacier in the Everest region, and its impact. The lake filled and drained within 3 months, which is a shorter interval than would be detected by standard monitoring protocols, but forced re-routing of major trails in several locations. The water appears to have flowed beneath Changri Shar and Khumbu glaciers in an efficient manner, suggesting pre-existing developed flow paths.
Dominic A. Hodgson, Kelly Hogan, James M. Smith, James A. Smith, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Alastair G. C. Graham, Peter Fretwell, Claire Allen, Vicky Peck, Jan-Erik Arndt, Boris Dorschel, Christian Hübscher, Andrew M. Smith, and Robert Larter
The Cryosphere, 12, 2383–2399, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2383-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2383-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We studied the Coats Land ice margin, Antarctica, providing a multi-disciplinary geophysical assessment of the ice sheet configuration through its last advance and retreat; a description of the physical constraints on the stability of the past and present ice and future margin based on its submarine geomorphology and ice-sheet geometry; and evidence that once detached from the bed, the ice shelves in this region were predisposed to rapid retreat back to coastal grounding lines.
Damon Davies, Robert G. Bingham, Edward C. King, Andrew M. Smith, Alex M. Brisbourne, Matteo Spagnolo, Alastair G. C. Graham, Anna E. Hogg, and David G. Vaughan
The Cryosphere, 12, 1615–1628, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1615-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1615-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper investigates the dynamics of ice stream beds using repeat geophysical surveys of the bed of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica; 60 km of the bed was surveyed, comprising the most extensive repeat ground-based geophysical surveys of an Antarctic ice stream; 90 % of the surveyed bed shows no significant change despite the glacier increasing in speed by up to 40 % over the last decade. This result suggests that ice stream beds are potentially more stable than previously suggested.
Dorothée Vallot, Jan Åström, Thomas Zwinger, Rickard Pettersson, Alistair Everett, Douglas I. Benn, Adrian Luckman, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Faezeh Nick, and Jack Kohler
The Cryosphere, 12, 609–625, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-609-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-609-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new perspective on the role of ice dynamics and ocean interaction in glacier calving processes applied to Kronebreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. A global modelling approach includes ice flow modelling, undercutting estimation by a combination of glacier energy balance and plume modelling as well as calving by a discrete particle model. We show that modelling undercutting is necessary and calving is influenced by basal friction velocity and geometry.
Alek A. Petty, Julienne C. Stroeve, Paul R. Holland, Linette N. Boisvert, Angela C. Bliss, Noriaki Kimura, and Walter N. Meier
The Cryosphere, 12, 433–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
There was significant scientific and media attention surrounding Arctic sea ice in 2016, due primarily to the record-warm air temperatures and low sea ice conditions observed at the start of the year. Here we quantify and assess the record-low monthly sea ice cover in winter, spring and fall, and the lack of record-low sea ice conditions in summer. We explore the primary drivers of these monthly sea ice states and explore the implications for improved summer sea ice forecasting.
Suzanne L. Bevan, Adrian Luckman, Bryn Hubbard, Bernd Kulessa, David Ashmore, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Martin O'Leary, Adam Booth, Heidi Sevestre, and Daniel McGrath
The Cryosphere, 11, 2743–2753, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2743-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2743-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Five 90 m boreholes drilled into an Antarctic Peninsula ice shelf show units of ice that are denser than expected and must have formed from refrozen surface melt which has been buried and transported downstream. We used surface flow speeds and snow accumulation rates to work out where and when these units formed. Results show that, as well as recent surface melt, a period of strong melt occurred during the 18th century. Surface melt is thought to be a factor in causing recent ice-shelf break-up.
Penelope How, Douglas I. Benn, Nicholas R. J. Hulton, Bryn Hubbard, Adrian Luckman, Heïdi Sevestre, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Katrin Lindbäck, Jack Kohler, and Wim Boot
The Cryosphere, 11, 2691–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2691-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides valuable insight into subglacial hydrology and dynamics at tidewater glaciers, which remains a poorly understood area of glaciology. It is a unique study because of the wealth of information provided by simultaneous observations of glacier hydrology at Kronebreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. All these elements build a strong conceptual picture of the glacier's hydrological regime over the 2014 melt season.
Sebastian H. R. Rosier, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Matt A. King, Keith W. Nicholls, Keith Makinson, and Hugh F. J. Corr
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 849–860, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-849-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-849-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Tides can affect the flow of ice at hourly to yearly timescales. In some cases the ice responds at a different frequency than is found in the tidal forcing; for example, on Rutford Ice Stream the strongest response is at a fortnightly period. A new compilation of GPS data across the Ronne Ice Shelf and adjoining ice streams shows that this fortnightly modulation in ice flow is found across the entire region. Measurements of this kind can provide insights into ice rheology and basal processes.
Katie E. Miles, Bryn Hubbard, Tristam D. L. Irvine-Fynn, Evan S. Miles, Duncan J. Quincey, and Ann V. Rowan
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-210, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-210, 2017
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
The production and routing of meltwater through glaciers is important because that water influences glacier sliding, and represents a resource in some instances and a hazard in others. Despite this importance, very little is known about the hydrology of debris-covered glaciers, which are commonly located at high altitudes. Here, we present a review of the hydrology of debris-covered glaciers, summarizing the current state of knowledge and identify potential future research priorities.
Peter Kuipers Munneke, Daniel McGrath, Brooke Medley, Adrian Luckman, Suzanne Bevan, Bernd Kulessa, Daniela Jansen, Adam Booth, Paul Smeets, Bryn Hubbard, David Ashmore, Michiel Van den Broeke, Heidi Sevestre, Konrad Steffen, Andrew Shepherd, and Noel Gourmelen
The Cryosphere, 11, 2411–2426, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2411-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2411-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
How much snow falls on the Larsen C ice shelf? This is a relevant question, because this ice shelf might collapse sometime this century. To know if and when this could happen, we found out how much snow falls on its surface. This was difficult, because there are only very few measurements. Here, we used data from automatic weather stations, sled-pulled radars, and a climate model to find that melting the annual snowfall produces about 20 cm of water in the NE and over 70 cm in the SW.
Douglas I. Benn, Sarah Thompson, Jason Gulley, Jordan Mertes, Adrian Luckman, and Lindsey Nicholson
The Cryosphere, 11, 2247–2264, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2247-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2247-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides the first complete view of the drainage system of a large Himalayan glacier, based on ice-cave exploration and satellite image analysis. Drainage tunnels inside glaciers have a major impact on melting rates, by providing lines of weakness inside the ice and potential pathways for melt-water, and play a key role in the response of debris-covered glaciers to sustained periods of negative mass balance.
Morgane Philippe, Jean-Louis Tison, Karen Fjøsne, Bryn Hubbard, Helle A. Kjær, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Reinhard Drews, Simon G. Sheldon, Kevin De Bondt, Philippe Claeys, and Frank Pattyn
The Cryosphere, 10, 2501–2516, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2501-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2501-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The reconstruction of past snow accumulation rates is crucial in the context of recent climate change and sea level rise. We measured ~ 250 years of snow accumulation using a 120 m ice core drilled in coastal East Antarctica, where such long records are very scarce. This study is the first to show an increase in snow accumulation, beginning in the 20th and particularly marked in the last 50 years, thereby confirming model predictions of increased snowfall associated with climate change.
Xylar S. Asay-Davis, Stephen L. Cornford, Gaël Durand, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Rupert M. Gladstone, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Tore Hattermann, David M. Holland, Denise Holland, Paul R. Holland, Daniel F. Martin, Pierre Mathiot, Frank Pattyn, and Hélène Seroussi
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2471–2497, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2471-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2471-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Coupled ice sheet–ocean models capable of simulating moving grounding lines are just becoming available. Such models have a broad range of potential applications in studying the dynamics of ice sheets and glaciers, including assessing their contributions to sea level change. Here we describe the idealized experiments that make up three interrelated Model Intercomparison Projects (MIPs) for marine ice sheet models and regional ocean circulation models incorporating ice shelf cavities.
Reinhard Drews, Joel Brown, Kenichi Matsuoka, Emmanuel Witrant, Morgane Philippe, Bryn Hubbard, and Frank Pattyn
The Cryosphere, 10, 811–823, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-811-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-811-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The thickness of ice shelves is typically inferred using hydrostatic equilibrium which requires knowledge of the firn density. Here, we infer density from wide-angle radar using a novel algorithm including traveltime inversion and ray tracing. We find that firn is denser inside a 2 km wide ice-shelf channel which is confirmed by optical televiewing of two boreholes. Such horizontal density variations must be accounted for when using the hydrostatic ice thickness for determining basal melt rate.
Edward C. King, Hamish D. Pritchard, and Andrew M. Smith
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 8, 151–158, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-151-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-151-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Large, fast-moving glaciers create long, linear mounds of sediments covering large areas. Understanding how these features form has been hampered by a lack of data from the bed of modern-day ice sheets. We give a detailed view of the landscape beneath an Antarctic glacier called Rutford Ice Stream. We towed a radar system back and forth across the glacier to measure the ice thickness every few metres. This is the first place such a highly detailed view of the sub-ice landscape has been created.
Sarah S. Thompson, Bernd Kulessa, Richard L. H. Essery, and Martin P. Lüthi
The Cryosphere, 10, 433–444, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-433-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-433-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We show that strong electrical self-potential fields are generated in melting in in situ snowpacks at Rhone Glacier and Jungfraujoch Glacier, Switzerland. We conclude that the electrical self-potential method is a promising snow and firn hydrology sensor, owing to its suitability for sensing lateral and vertical liquid water flows directly and minimally invasively, complementing established observational programs and monitoring autonomously at a low cost.
D. Jansen, A. J. Luckman, A. Cook, S. Bevan, B. Kulessa, B. Hubbard, and P. R. Holland
The Cryosphere, 9, 1223–1227, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1223-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1223-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Within the last year, a large rift in the southern part of the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, propagated towards the inner part of the ice shelf. In this study we present the development of the rift as derived from remote sensing data and assess the impact of possible calving scenarios on the future stability of the Larsen C Ice Shelf, using a numerical model. We find that the calving front is likely to become unstable after the anticipated calving events.
P. R. Holland, A. Brisbourne, H. F. J. Corr, D. McGrath, K. Purdon, J. Paden, H. A. Fricker, F. S. Paolo, and A. H. Fleming
The Cryosphere, 9, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1005-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1005-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves have collapsed in recent decades. The surface of Larsen C Ice Shelf is lowering, but the cause of this has not been understood. This study uses eight radar surveys to show that the lowering is caused by both ice loss and a loss of air from the ice shelf's snowpack. At least two different processes are causing the lowering. The stability of Larsen C may be at risk from an ungrounding of Bawden Ice Rise or ice-front retreat past a 'compressive arch' in strain rates.
N. F. Glasser, S. J. A. Jennings, M. J. Hambrey, and B. Hubbard
Earth Surf. Dynam., 3, 239–249, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-239-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-239-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new map of the surface features of the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet. The map was compiled from satellite images. It shows many flow-parallel structures that we call "longitudinal ice-surface structures". Their location mirrors the location of fast-flowing glaciers and ice streams in the ice sheet. Their distribution indicates that the major ice-flow configuration of the ice sheet may have remained largely unchanged for the last few hundred years, and possibly even longer.
B. Hubbard, C. Souness, and S. Brough
The Cryosphere, 8, 2047–2061, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2047-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2047-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
We address the dynamic glaciology of glacier-like forms (GLFs) on Mars, over 1300 of which are located in the planet's midlatitude regions. We present case studies to gain insight into (i) the former extent of GLFs, (ii) GLF motion and surface crevassing, (iii) GLF debris transfer (suggesting a best-estimate surface velocity of 7.5 mm/a over the past 2 Ma), and (iv) putative GLF surface hydrology. Finally, we present several possible research directions for the future study of Martian GLFs.
S. A. Khan, K. K. Kjeldsen, K. H. Kjær, S. Bevan, A. Luckman, A. Aschwanden, A. A. Bjørk, N. J. Korsgaard, J. E. Box, M. van den Broeke, T. M. van Dam, and A. Fitzner
The Cryosphere, 8, 1497–1507, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1497-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1497-2014, 2014
S. L. Bevan, S. O. Los, and P. R. J. North
Biogeosciences, 11, 2897–2908, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-2897-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-2897-2014, 2014
S. Cook, I. C. Rutt, T. Murray, A. Luckman, T. Zwinger, N. Selmes, A. Goldsack, and T. D. James
The Cryosphere, 8, 827–841, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-827-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-827-2014, 2014
A. A. Petty, P. R. Holland, and D. L. Feltham
The Cryosphere, 8, 761–783, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-761-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-761-2014, 2014
D. J. Quincey and A. Luckman
The Cryosphere, 8, 571–574, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-571-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-571-2014, 2014
A. M. Brisbourne, A. M. Smith, E. C. King, K. W. Nicholls, P. R. Holland, and K. Makinson
The Cryosphere, 8, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1-2014, 2014
P. Dutrieux, D. G. Vaughan, H. F. J. Corr, A. Jenkins, P. R. Holland, I. Joughin, and A. H. Fleming
The Cryosphere, 7, 1543–1555, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1543-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1543-2013, 2013
P. Fretwell, H. D. Pritchard, D. G. Vaughan, J. L. Bamber, N. E. Barrand, R. Bell, C. Bianchi, R. G. Bingham, D. D. Blankenship, G. Casassa, G. Catania, D. Callens, H. Conway, A. J. Cook, H. F. J. Corr, D. Damaske, V. Damm, F. Ferraccioli, R. Forsberg, S. Fujita, Y. Gim, P. Gogineni, J. A. Griggs, R. C. A. Hindmarsh, P. Holmlund, J. W. Holt, R. W. Jacobel, A. Jenkins, W. Jokat, T. Jordan, E. C. King, J. Kohler, W. Krabill, M. Riger-Kusk, K. A. Langley, G. Leitchenkov, C. Leuschen, B. P. Luyendyk, K. Matsuoka, J. Mouginot, F. O. Nitsche, Y. Nogi, O. A. Nost, S. V. Popov, E. Rignot, D. M. Rippin, A. Rivera, J. Roberts, N. Ross, M. J. Siegert, A. M. Smith, D. Steinhage, M. Studinger, B. Sun, B. K. Tinto, B. C. Welch, D. Wilson, D. A. Young, C. Xiangbin, and A. Zirizzotti
The Cryosphere, 7, 375–393, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-375-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-375-2013, 2013
S. H. Doyle, A. L. Hubbard, C. F. Dow, G. A. Jones, A. Fitzpatrick, A. Gusmeroli, B. Kulessa, K. Lindback, R. Pettersson, and J. E. Box
The Cryosphere, 7, 129–140, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-129-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-129-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Physical oceanography
The physical and biogeochemical parameters along the coastal waters of Saudi Arabia during field surveys in summer, 2021
A Lagrangian coherent eddy atlas for biogeochemical applications in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
Global marine gravity gradient tensor inverted from altimetry-derived deflections of the vertical: CUGB2023GRAD
Reconstruction of hourly coastal water levels and counterfactuals without sea level rise for impact attribution
3D reconstruction of horizontal and vertical quasi-geostrophic currents in the North Atlantic Ocean
Laboratory data linking the reconfiguration of and drag on individual plants to the velocity structure and wave dissipation over a meadow of salt marsh plants under waves with and without current
Exploring multi-decadal time series of temperature extremes in Australian coastal waters
Measurements of morphodynamics of a sheltered beach along the Dutch Wadden Sea
Lagoon hydrodynamics of pearl farming islands: the case of Gambier (French Polynesia)
Oceanographic dataset collected during the 2021 scientific expedition of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen
Salinity and Stratification at the Sea Ice Edge (SASSIE): An oceanographic field campaign in the Beaufort Sea
Extension of a high temporal resolution sea level time series at Socoa (Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France) back to 1875
SDUST2020MGCR: a global marine gravity change rate model determined from multi-satellite altimeter data
Hyperspectral reflectance of pristine, ocean weathered and biofouled plastics from a dry to wet and submerged state
Lagoon hydrodynamics of pearl farming atolls: the case of Raroia, Takapoto, Apataki and Takaroa (French Polynesia)
Measurements of nearshore ocean-surface kinematics through coherent arrays of free-drifting buoys
Multiyear surface waves dataset from the subsurface "DeepLev" Eastern Levantine moored station
Lagrangian surface drifter observations in the North Sea: An overview on high resolution tidal dynamics and submesoscale surface currents
A Mediterranean drifter dataset
The DTU21 global mean sea surface and first evaluation
A dataset for investigating socio-ecological changes in Arctic fjords
Dataset of depth and temperature profiles obtained from 2012 to 2020 using commercial fishing vessels of the AdriFOOS fleet in the Adriatic Sea
Measurements and modeling of water levels, currents, density, and wave climate on a semi-enclosed tidal bay, Cádiz (southwest Spain)
Wind wave and water level dataset for Hornsund, Svalbard (2013–2021)
Deep-water hydrodynamic observations around a cold-water coral habitat in a submarine canyon in the eastern Ligurian Sea (Mediterranean Sea)
Ocean cross-validated observations from R/Vs L'Atalante, Maria S. Merian, and Meteor and related platforms as part of the EUREC4A-OA/ATOMIC campaign
A global Lagrangian eddy dataset based on satellite altimetry
The sea level time series of Trieste, Molo Sartorio, Italy (1869–2021)
Southern Europe and western Asian marine heatwaves (SEWA-MHWs): a dataset based on macroevents
An evaluation of long-term physical and hydrochemical measurements at the Sylt Roads Marine Observatory (1973–2019), Wadden Sea, North Sea
Annual hydrographic variability in Antarctic coastal waters infused with glacial inflow
Argo salinity: bias and uncertainty evaluation
Improved global sea surface height and current maps from remote sensing and in situ observations
Sea surface height anomaly and geostrophic current velocity from altimetry measurements over the Arctic Ocean (2011–2020)
SDUST2020 MSS: a global 1′ × 1′ mean sea surface model determined from multi-satellite altimetry data
Synoptic observations of sediment transport and exchange mechanisms in the turbid Ems Estuary: the EDoM campaign
A compilation of global bio-optical in situ data for ocean colour satellite applications – version three
Deep-water hydrodynamic observations of two moorings sites on the continental slope of the southern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)
Hydrodynamic and hydrological processes within a variety of coral reef lagoons: field observations during six cyclonic seasons in New Caledonia
Reconstructing ocean subsurface salinity at high resolution using a machine learning approach
The HYPERMAQ dataset: bio-optical properties of moderately to extremely turbid waters
Mesoscale observations of temperature and salinity in the Arctic Transpolar Drift: a high-resolution dataset from the MOSAiC Distributed Network
SDUST2021GRA: global marine gravity anomaly model recovered from Ka-band and Ku-band satellite altimeter data
Reanalyses of Maskelyne's tidal data at St. Helena in 1761
Twenty-one years of hydrological data acquisition in the Mediterranean Sea: quality, availability, and research
A new operational Mediterranean diurnal optimally interpolated sea surface temperature product within the Copernicus Marine Service
Wind waves in the North Atlantic from ship navigational radar: SeaVision development and its validation with the Spotter wave buoy and WaveWatch III
Wave attenuation potential, sediment properties and mangrove growth dynamics data over Guyana's intertidal mudflats: assessing the potential of mangrove restoration works
High-resolution bathymetry models for the Lena Delta and Kolyma Gulf coastal zones
Towards improved analysis of short mesoscale sea level signals from satellite altimetry
Yasser O. Abualnaja, Alexandra Pavlidou, James H. Churchill, Ioannis Hatzianestis, Dimitris Velaoras, Harilaos Kontoyiannis, Vassilis P. Papadopoulos, Aristomenis P. Karageorgis, Georgia Assimakopoulou, Helen Kaberi, Theodoros Kannelopoulos, Constantine Parinos, Christina Zeri, Dionysios Ballas, Elli Pitta, Vassiliki Paraskevopoulou, Afroditi Androni, Styliani Chourdaki, Vassileia Fioraki, Stylianos Iliakis, Georgia Kabouri, Angeliki Konstantinopoulou, Georgios Krokos, Dimitra Papageorgiou, Alkiviadis Papageorgiou, Georgios Pappas, Elvira Plakidi, Eleni Rousselaki, Ioanna Stavrakaki, Eleni Tzempelikou, Panagiota Zachioti, Anthi Yfanti, Theodore Zoulias, Abdulah Al Amoudi, Yasser Alshehri, Ahmad Alharbi, Hammad Al Sulami, Taha Boksmati, Rayan Mutwalli, and Ibrahim Hoteit
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1703–1731, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1703-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1703-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present oceanographic measurements obtained during two surveillance cruises conducted in June and September 2021 in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. It is the first multidisciplinary survey within the Saudi Arabian coastal zone, extending from near the Saudi–Jordanian border in the north of the Red Sea to the south close to the Saudi--Yemen border and in the Arabian Gulf. The objective was to record the pollution status along the coastal zone of the kingdom related to specific pressures.
Alexandra E. Jones-Kellett and Michael J. Follows
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1475–1501, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1475-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1475-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ocean eddies can limit horizontal mixing, potentially isolating phytoplankton populations and affecting their concentration. We used two decades of satellite data and computer simulations to identify and track eddy-trapping boundaries in the Pacific Ocean for application in phytoplankton research. Although some eddies trap water masses for months, many continuously mix with surrounding waters. A case study shows how eddy trapping can enhance the signature of a phytoplankton bloom.
Richard Fiifi Annan, Xiaoyun Wan, Ruijie Hao, and Fei Wang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1167–1176, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1167-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1167-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Gravity gradient tensor, a set of six unique gravity signals, is suitable for detecting undersea features. However, due to poor spatial resolution in past years, it has received less research interest and investment. However, current datasets have better accuracy and resolutions, thereby necessitating a revisit. Our analysis shows comparable results with reference models. We conclude that current-generation altimetry datasets can precisely resolve all six gravity gradients.
Simon Treu, Sanne Muis, Sönke Dangendorf, Thomas Wahl, Julius Oelsmann, Stefanie Heinicke, Katja Frieler, and Matthias Mengel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1121–1136, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1121-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1121-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This article describes a reconstruction of monthly coastal water levels from 1900–2015 and hourly data from 1979–2015, both with and without long-term sea level rise. The dataset is based on a combination of three datasets that are focused on different aspects of coastal water levels. Comparison with tide gauge records shows that this combination brings reconstructions closer to the observations compared to the individual datasets.
Sarah Asdar, Daniele Ciani, and Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1029–1046, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1029-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1029-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Estimating 3D currents is crucial for the understanding of ocean dynamics, and a precise knowledge of ocean circulation is essential to ensure a sustainable ocean. In this context, a new high-resolution (1 / 10°) data-driven dataset of 3D ocean currents has been developed within the European Space Agency World Ocean Circulation project, providing 10 years (2010–2019) of horizontal and vertical quasi-geostrophic currents at daily resolution over the North Atlantic Ocean, down to 1500 m depth.
Xiaoxia Zhang and Heidi Nepf
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1047–1062, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1047-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1047-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study measured the wave-induced plant drag, flow structure, turbulent intensity, and wave energy attenuation in the presence of a salt marsh. We showed that leaves contribute to most of the total plant drag and wave dissipation. Plant resistance significantly reshapes the velocity profile and enhances turbulence intensity. Adding current obviously impact the plants' wave decay capacity. The dataset can be reused to develop and calibrate marsh-flow theoretical and numerical models.
Michael Hemming, Moninya Roughan, and Amandine Schaeffer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 887–901, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-887-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-887-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present new datasets that are useful for exploring extreme ocean temperature events in Australian coastal waters. These datasets span multiple decades, starting from the 1940s and 1950s, and include observations from the surface to the bottom at four coastal sites. The datasets provide valuable insights into the intensity, frequency and timing of extreme warm and cold temperature events and include event characteristics such as duration, onset and decline rates and their categorisation.
Marlies A. van der Lugt, Jorn W. Bosma, Matthieu A. de Schipper, Timothy D. Price, Marcel C. G. van Maarseveen, Pieter van der Gaag, Gerben Ruessink, Ad J. H. M. Reniers, and Stefan G. J. Aarninkhof
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 903–918, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-903-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A 6-week field campaign was carried out at a sheltered sandy beach on Texel along the Dutch Wadden Sea with the aim of gaining new insights into the driving processes behind sheltered beach morphodynamics. Detailed measurements of the local hydrodynamics, bed-level changes and sediment composition were collected. The morphological evolution on this sheltered site is the result of the subtle interplay between waves, currents and bed composition.
Oriane Bruyère, Romain Le Gendre, Vetea Liao, and Serge Andréfouët
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 667–679, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-667-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-667-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
During 2019–2020, the lagoon and forereefs of Gambier Island (French Polynesia) were monitored with oceanographic instruments to measure lagoon hydrodynamics and ocean–lagoon water exchanges. Gambier Island is a key black pearl producer and the study goal was to understand the processes influencing spat collection of pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera, the species used to produce black pearls. The data set is provided to address local pearl farming questions and other investigations as well.
Tahiana Ratsimbazafy, Thibaud Dezutter, Amélie Desmarais, Daniel Amirault, Pascal Guillot, and Simon Morisset
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 471–499, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-471-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-471-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Canadian Coast Guard Ship has collected oceanographic data across the Canadian Arctic annually since 2003. Such activity aims to support Canadian and international researchers. The ship has several instruments with cutting-edge technology available for research each year during the summer. The data presented here include measurements of physical, chemical and biological variables during the year 2021. Datasets collected from each expedition are available free of charge for the public.
Kyla Drushka, Elizabeth Westbrook, Frederick Bingham, Peter Gaube, Suzanne Dickinson, Severine Fournier, Viviane Menezes, Sidharth Misra, Jaynise Perez, Edwin J. Rainville, Julian Schanze, Carlyn Schmidgall, Andrey Shcherbina, Michael Steele, Jim Thomson, and Seth Zippel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-406, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-406, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA SASSIE mission aims to understand the role of salinity in modifying sea ice formation in early autumn. The 2022 SASSIE campaign collected measurements of upper ocean properties including stratification (layering of the ocean) and air-sea fluxes in the Beaufort Sea. These data are presented here and made publicly available on the NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) along with code to manipulate the data and generate the figures presented herein.
Md Jamal Uddin Khan, Inge Van Den Beld, Guy Wöppelmann, Laurent Testut, Alexa Latapy, and Nicolas Pouvreau
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5739–5753, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5739-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5739-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Established in the southwest of France in 1875, the Socoa tide gauge is part of the national sea level monitoring network in France. Through a data archaeology exercise, a large part of the records of this gauge in paper format have been rescued and digitized. The digitized data were processed and quality controlled to produce a uniform hourly sea level time series covering 1875 to the present day. This new dataset is important for climate research on sea level rise, tides, and storm surges.
Fengshun Zhu, Jinyun Guo, Huiying Zhang, Lingyong Huang, Heping Sun, and Xin Liu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-498, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-498, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
We used multi-satellite altimeter data to construct a high-resolution marine gravity change rate (MGCR) model on 5′×5′ grids, named SDUST2020MGCR. The spatial distribution of SDUST2020MGCR and GRACE MGCR are similar, such as eastern seas of Japan (dipole), western seas of the Nicobar Islands (rising), and southern seas of Greenland (falling). In particular, the SDUST2020MGCR can provide a detailed view of long-term marine gravity change, which will help to study the Earth's mass migration.
Robin V. F. de Vries, Shungudzemwoyo P. Garaba, and Sarah-Jeanne Royer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5575–5596, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5575-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5575-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a high-quality dataset of hyperspectral point and multipixel reflectance observations of virgin, ocean-harvested, and biofouled multipurpose plastics. Biofouling and a submerged scenario of the dataset further extend the variability in open-access spectral reference libraries that are important in algorithm development with relevance to remote sensing use cases.
Oriane Bruyère, Romain Le Gendre, Mathilde Chauveau, Bertrand Bourgeois, David Varillon, John Butscher, Thomas Trophime, Yann Follin, Jérôme Aucan, Vetea Liao, and Serge Andréfouët
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5553–5573, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5553-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5553-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
During 2018–2022, four pearl farming Tuamotu atolls (French Polynesia) were studied with oceanographic instruments to measure lagoon hydrodynamics and ocean-lagoon water exchanges. The goal was to gain knowledge on the processes influencing the spat collection of the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera, the species used to produce black pearls. A worldwide unique oceanographic atoll data set is provided to address local pearl farming questions and other fundamental and applied investigations.
Edwin Rainville, Jim Thomson, Melissa Moulton, and Morteza Derakhti
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5135–5151, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5135-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5135-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Measuring ocean waves nearshore is essential for understanding how the waves impact our coastlines. We designed and deployed many small wave buoys in the nearshore ocean over 27 d in Duck, North Carolina, USA, in 2021. The wave buoys measure their motion as they drift. In this paper, we describe multiple levels of data processing. We explain how this dataset can be used in future studies to investigate nearshore wave kinematics, transport of buoyant particles, and wave-breaking processes.
Nir Haim, Vika Grigorieva, Yaron Toledo, Rotem Soffer, Boaz Mayzel, Timor Katz, Ronen Alkalay, Eli Biton, Ayah Lazar, Hezi Gildor, Ilana Berman-Frank, Yishai Weinstein, and Barak Herut
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-450, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-450, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
This paper outlines the process of creating an open-access surface waves dataset, drawing from deep-sea research station observations located fifty km off the coast of Israel. The discussion encompasses the waves monitoring procedure, from instrument configuration to wave fields retrieval, and into aspects of quality assurance. The dataset presented spans five years, offering uncommon in situ waves measurements in the deep sea and addresses the existing gap in wave information within the region.
Lisa Deyle, Thomas H. Badewien, Oliver Wurl, and Jens Meyerjürgens
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-359, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-359, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
A dataset from the North Sea of 85 surface drifters from 2017–2021 is presented. Surface drifters enable the analysis of ocean currents by determining the velocities of surface currents and tidal effects. The entire North Sea has not been studied with drifters before, but the analysis of ocean currents is essential, e.g., to understand the pathways of plastic. The results show that there are strong tidal effects in the shallow North Sea area and strong surface currents in the deep areas.
Alberto Ribotti, Antonio Bussani, Milena Menna, Andrea Satta, Roberto Sorgente, Andrea Cucco, and Riccardo Gerin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4651–4659, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4651-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4651-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Over 100 experiments were realized between 1998 and 2022 in the Mediterranean Sea using surface coastal and offshore Lagrangian drifters. Raw data were initially unified and pre-processed. Then, the integrity of the received data packages was checked and incomplete ones were discarded. Deployment information was retrieved and integrated into the PostgreSQL database. Data were interpolated at defined time intervals, providing a dataset of 158 trajectories, available in different formats.
Ole Baltazar Andersen, Stine Kildegaard Rose, Adili Abulaitijiang, Shengjun Zhang, and Sara Fleury
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4065–4075, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4065-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4065-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The mean sea surface (MSS) is an important reference for mapping sea-level changes across the global oceans. It is widely used by space agencies in the definition of sea-level anomalies as mapped by satellite altimetry from space. Here a new fully global high-resolution mean sea surface called DTU21MSS is presented, and a suite of evaluations are performed to demonstrate its performance.
Robert W. Schlegel and Jean-Pierre Gattuso
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3733–3746, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3733-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3733-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A single dataset was created for investigations of changes in the socio-ecological systems within seven Arctic fjords by amalgamating roughly 1400 datasets from a number of sources. The many variables in these data were organised into five distinct categories and classified into 14 key drivers. Data for seawater temperature and salinity are available from the late 19th century, with some other drivers having data available from the 1950s and 1960s and the others starting from the 1990s onward.
Pierluigi Penna, Filippo Domenichetti, Andrea Belardinelli, and Michela Martinelli
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3513–3527, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3513-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3513-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents the pressure (depth) and temperature profile dataset provided by the AdriFOOS infrastructure in the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean basin) from 2012 to 2020. Data were subject to quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). This infrastructure, based on the ships of opportunity principle and involving the use of commercial fishing vessels, is able to produce huge amounts of useful data both for operational oceanography and fishery biology purposes.
Carmen Zarzuelo, Alejandro López-Ruiz, María Bermúdez, and Miguel Ortega-Sánchez
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3095–3110, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3095-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3095-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a hydrodynamic dataset for the Bay of Cádiz in southern Spain, a paradigmatic example of a tidal bay of complex geometry under high anthropogenic pressure. The dataset brings together measured and modeled data on water levels, currents, density, and waves for the period 2012–2015. It allows the characterization of the bay dynamics from intratidal to seasonal scales. Potential applications include the study of ocean–bay interactions, wave propagation, or energy assessments.
Zuzanna M. Swirad, Mateusz Moskalik, and Agnieszka Herman
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2623–2633, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2623-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2623-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring ocean waves is important for understanding wave climate and seasonal to longer-term (years to decades) changes. In the Arctic, there is limited freely available observational wave information. We placed sensors at the sea bottom of six bays in Hornsund fjord, Svalbard, and calculated wave energy, wave height and wave period for full hours between July 2013 and February 2021. In this paper, we present the procedure of deriving wave properties from raw pressure measurements.
Tiziana Ciuffardi, Zoi Kokkini, Maristella Berta, Marina Locritani, Andrea Bordone, Ivana Delbono, Mireno Borghini, Maurizio Demarte, Roberta Ivaldi, Federica Pannacciulli, Anna Vetrano, Davide Marini, and Giovanni Caprino
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1933–1946, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1933-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1933-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents the results of the first 2 years of the Levante Canyon Mooring, a mooring line placed since 2020 in the eastern Ligurian Sea, to study a canyon area at about 600 m depth characterized by the presence of cold-water living corals. It provides hydrodynamic and thermohaline measurements along the water column, describing a water-mass distribution coherent with previous evidence in the Ligurian Sea. The data also show a Northern Current episodic and local reversal during summer.
Pierre L'Hégaret, Florian Schütte, Sabrina Speich, Gilles Reverdin, Dariusz B. Baranowski, Rena Czeschel, Tim Fischer, Gregory R. Foltz, Karen J. Heywood, Gerd Krahmann, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Philippe Le Bot, Stéphane Leizour, Callum Rollo, Michael Schlundt, Elizabeth Siddle, Corentin Subirade, Dongxiao Zhang, and Johannes Karstensen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1801–1830, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1801-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1801-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In early 2020, the EUREC4A-OA/ATOMIC experiment took place in the northwestern Tropical Atlantic Ocean, a dynamical region where different water masses interact. Four oceanographic vessels and a fleet of autonomous devices were deployed to study the processes at play and sample the upper ocean, each with its own observing capability. The article first describes the data calibration and validation and second their cross-validation, using a hierarchy of instruments and estimating the uncertainty.
Tongya Liu and Ryan Abernathey
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1765–1778, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1765-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1765-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Nearly all existing datasets of mesoscale eddies are based on the Eulerian method because of its operational simplicity. Using satellite observations and a Lagrangian method, we present a global Lagrangian eddy dataset (GLED v1.0). We conduct the statistical comparison between two types of eddies and the dataset validation. Our dataset offers relief from dilemma that the Eulerian eddy dataset is nearly the only option for studying mesoscale eddies.
Fabio Raicich
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1749–1763, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1749-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the changing climate, long sea level time series are essential for studying the variability of the mean sea level and the occurrence of extreme events on different timescales. This work summarizes the rescue and quality control of the ultra-centennial sea level data set of Trieste, Italy. The whole time series is characterized by a linear trend of about 1.4 mm yr−1, the period corresponding to the altimetry coverage by a trend of about 3.0 mm yr−1, similarly to the global ocean.
Giulia Bonino, Simona Masina, Giuliano Galimberti, and Matteo Moretti
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1269–1285, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1269-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1269-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a unique observational dataset of marine heat wave (MHW) macroevents and their characteristics over southern Europe and western Asian (SEWA) basins in the SEWA-MHW dataset. This dataset is the first effort in the literature to archive extremely hot sea surface temperature macroevents. The advantages of the availability of SEWA-MHWs are avoiding the waste of computational resources to detect MHWs and building a consistent framework which would increase comparability among MHW studies.
Johannes J. Rick, Mirco Scharfe, Tatyana Romanova, Justus E. E. van Beusekom, Ragnhild Asmus, Harald Asmus, Finn Mielck, Anja Kamp, Rainer Sieger, and Karen H. Wiltshire
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1037–1057, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1037-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Sylt Roads (Wadden Sea) time series is illustrated. Since 1984, the water temperature has risen by 1.1 °C, while pH and salinity decreased by 0.2 and 0.3 units. Nutrients (P, N) displayed a period of high eutrophication until 1998 and have decreased since 1999, while Si showed a parallel increase. Chlorophyll did not mirror these changes, probably due to a switch in nutrient limitation. Until 1998, algae were primarily limited by Si, and since 1999, P limitation has become more important.
Maria Osińska, Kornelia A. Wójcik-Długoborska, and Robert J. Bialik
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 607–616, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-607-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-607-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Water properties, including temperature, conductivity, turbidity and pH as well as the dissolved oxygen, dissolved organic matter, chlorophyll-a and phycoerythrin contents, were investigated in 31 different locations at up to 100 m depth over a period of 38 months in a glacial bay in Antarctica. These investigations were carried out 142 times in all seasons of the year, resulting in a unique dataset of information about seasonal and long-term changes in polar water properties.
Annie P. S. Wong, John Gilson, and Cécile Cabanes
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 383–393, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-383-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This article describes the instrument bias in the raw Argo salinity data from 2000 to 2021. The main cause of this bias is sensor drift. Using Argo data without filtering out this instrument bias has been shown to lead to spurious results in various scientific applications. We describe the Argo delayed-mode process that evaluates and adjusts such instrument bias, and we estimate the uncertainty of the Argo delayed-mode salinity dataset. The best ways to use Argo data are illustrated.
Maxime Ballarotta, Clément Ubelmann, Pierre Veillard, Pierre Prandi, Hélène Etienne, Sandrine Mulet, Yannice Faugère, Gérald Dibarboure, Rosemary Morrow, and Nicolas Picot
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 295–315, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-295-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-295-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new gridded sea surface height and current dataset produced by combining observations from nadir altimeters and drifting buoys. This product is based on a multiscale and multivariate mapping approach that offers the possibility to improve the physical content of gridded products by combining the data from various platforms and resolving a broader spectrum of ocean surface dynamic than in the current operational mapping system. A quality assessment of this new product is presented.
Francesca Doglioni, Robert Ricker, Benjamin Rabe, Alexander Barth, Charles Troupin, and Torsten Kanzow
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 225–263, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-225-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-225-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new satellite-derived gridded dataset, including 10 years of sea surface height and geostrophic velocity at monthly resolution, over the Arctic ice-covered and ice-free regions, up to 88° N. We assess the dataset by comparison to independent satellite and mooring data. Results correlate well with independent satellite data at monthly timescales, and the geostrophic velocity fields can resolve seasonal to interannual variability of boundary currents wider than about 50 km.
Jiajia Yuan, Jinyun Guo, Chengcheng Zhu, Zhen Li, Xin Liu, and Jinyao Gao
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 155–169, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-155-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-155-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The mean sea surface (MSS) is a relative steady-state sea level within a finite period with important applications in geodesy, oceanography, and other disciplines. In this study, the Shandong University of Science and Technology 2020 (SDUST2020), a new global MSS model, was established with a 19-year moving average method from multi-satellite altimetry data. Its global coverage is from 80 °S to 84 °N, the grid size is 1'×1', and the reference period is from January 1993 to December 2019.
Dirk S. van Maren, Christian Maushake, Jan-Willem Mol, Daan van Keulen, Jens Jürges, Julia Vroom, Henk Schuttelaars, Theo Gerkema, Kirstin Schulz, Thomas H. Badewien, Michaela Gerriets, Andreas Engels, Andreas Wurpts, Dennis Oberrecht, Andrew J. Manning, Taylor Bailey, Lauren Ross, Volker Mohrholz, Dante M. L. Horemans, Marius Becker, Dirk Post, Charlotte Schmidt, and Petra J. T. Dankers
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 53–73, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-53-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-53-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper reports on the main findings of a large measurement campaign aiming to better understand how an exposed estuary (the Ems Estuary on the Dutch–German border) interacts with a tidal river (the lower Ems River). Eight simultaneously deployed ships measuring a tidal cycle and 10 moorings collecting data throughout a spring–neap tidal cycle have produced a dataset providing valuable insight into processes determining exchange of water and sediment between the two systems.
André Valente, Shubha Sathyendranath, Vanda Brotas, Steve Groom, Michael Grant, Thomas Jackson, Andrei Chuprin, Malcolm Taberner, Ruth Airs, David Antoine, Robert Arnone, William M. Balch, Kathryn Barker, Ray Barlow, Simon Bélanger, Jean-François Berthon, Şükrü Beşiktepe, Yngve Borsheim, Astrid Bracher, Vittorio Brando, Robert J. W. Brewin, Elisabetta Canuti, Francisco P. Chavez, Andrés Cianca, Hervé Claustre, Lesley Clementson, Richard Crout, Afonso Ferreira, Scott Freeman, Robert Frouin, Carlos García-Soto, Stuart W. Gibb, Ralf Goericke, Richard Gould, Nathalie Guillocheau, Stanford B. Hooker, Chuamin Hu, Mati Kahru, Milton Kampel, Holger Klein, Susanne Kratzer, Raphael Kudela, Jesus Ledesma, Steven Lohrenz, Hubert Loisel, Antonio Mannino, Victor Martinez-Vicente, Patricia Matrai, David McKee, Brian G. Mitchell, Tiffany Moisan, Enrique Montes, Frank Muller-Karger, Aimee Neeley, Michael Novak, Leonie O'Dowd, Michael Ondrusek, Trevor Platt, Alex J. Poulton, Michel Repecaud, Rüdiger Röttgers, Thomas Schroeder, Timothy Smyth, Denise Smythe-Wright, Heidi M. Sosik, Crystal Thomas, Rob Thomas, Gavin Tilstone, Andreia Tracana, Michael Twardowski, Vincenzo Vellucci, Kenneth Voss, Jeremy Werdell, Marcel Wernand, Bozena Wojtasiewicz, Simon Wright, and Giuseppe Zibordi
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5737–5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5737-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5737-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A compiled set of in situ data is vital to evaluate the quality of ocean-colour satellite data records. Here we describe the global compilation of bio-optical in situ data (spanning from 1997 to 2021) used for the validation of the ocean-colour products from the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI). The compilation merges and harmonizes several in situ data sources into a simple format that could be used directly for the evaluation of satellite-derived ocean-colour data.
Francesco Paladini de Mendoza, Katrin Schroeder, Leonardo Langone, Jacopo Chiggiato, Mireno Borghini, Patrizia Giordano, Giulio Verazzo, and Stefano Miserocchi
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5617–5635, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5617-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5617-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents the dataset of continuous monitoring in the southern Adriatic Margin, providing a unique observatory of deep-water dynamics. The study area is influenced by episodic dense-water cascading, which is a fundamental process for water renewal and deep-water dynamics. Information about the frequency and intensity variations of these events is observed along a time series. The monitoring activities are still ongoing and the moorings are part of the EMSO-ERIC network.
Oriane Bruyère, Benoit Soulard, Hugues Lemonnier, Thierry Laugier, Morgane Hubert, Sébastien Petton, Térence Desclaux, Simon Van Wynsberge, Eric Le Tesson, Jérôme Lefèvre, Franck Dumas, Jean-François Kayara, Emmanuel Bourassin, Noémie Lalau, Florence Antypas, and Romain Le Gendre
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5439–5462, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5439-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5439-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
From 2014 to 2021, extensive monitoring of hydrodynamics was deployed within five contrasted lagoons of New Caledonia during austral summers. These coastal physical observations encompassed unmonitored lagoons and captured eight major atmospheric events ranging from tropical depression to category 4 cyclone. The main objectives were to characterize the processes controlling hydrodynamics of these lagoons and record the signature of extreme events on land–lagoon–ocean continuum functioning.
Tian Tian, Lijing Cheng, Gongjie Wang, John Abraham, Wangxu Wei, Shihe Ren, Jiang Zhu, Junqiang Song, and Hongze Leng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5037–5060, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5037-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5037-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A high-resolution gridded dataset is crucial for understanding ocean processes at various spatiotemporal scales. Here we used a machine learning approach and successfully reconstructed a high-resolution (0.25° × 0.25°) ocean subsurface (1–2000 m) salinity dataset for the period 1993–2018 (monthly) by merging in situ salinity profile observations with high-resolution satellite remote-sensing data. This new product could be useful in various applications in ocean and climate fields.
Héloïse Lavigne, Ana Dogliotti, David Doxaran, Fang Shen, Alexandre Castagna, Matthew Beck, Quinten Vanhellemont, Xuerong Sun, Juan Ignacio Gossn, Pannimpullath Remanan Renosh, Koen Sabbe, Dieter Vansteenwegen, and Kevin Ruddick
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4935–4947, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4935-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4935-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Because of the large diversity of case 2 waters and the complexity of light transfer, retrieving main biogeochemical parameters in these waters is still challenging. By providing optical and biogeochemical parameters for 180 sampling stations with turbidity and chlorophyll-a concentration ranging from low to extreme values, the HYPERMAQ dataset will contribute to a better description of marine optics in optically complex water bodies and can help the scientific community to develop algorithms.
Mario Hoppmann, Ivan Kuznetsov, Ying-Chih Fang, and Benjamin Rabe
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4901–4921, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4901-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4901-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The role of eddies and fronts in the oceans is a hot topic in climate research, but there are still many related knowledge gaps, particularly in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. Here we present a unique dataset of ocean observations collected by a set of drifting buoys installed on ice floes as part of the 2019/2020 MOSAiC campaign. The buoys recorded temperature and salinity data for 10 months, providing extraordinary insights into the properties and processes of the ocean along their drift.
Chengcheng Zhu, Jinyun Guo, Jiajia Yuan, Zhen Li, Xin Liu, and Jinyao Gao
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4589–4606, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4589-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4589-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate marine gravity anomalies play an important role in the fields of submarine topography, Earth structure, and submarine exploitation. With the launch of different altimetry satellites, the density of altimeter data can meet the requirements of inversion of high-resolution and high-precision gravity anomaly models. We construct the global marine gravity anomaly model (SDUST2021GRA) from altimeter data (including HY-2A). The accuracy of the model is high, especially in the offshore area.
Philip L. Woodworth and John M. Vassie
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4387–4396, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4387-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4387-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
An electronic data set of tidal measurements at St. Helena in 1761 by Nevil Maskelyne is described. These data were first analysed by Cartwright in papers on changing tides, but his data files were never archived. The now newly digitised Maskelyne data have been reanalysed in order to obtain an updated impression of whether the tide has changed at that location in over two and a half centuries. Our main conclusion is that the major tidal constituent (M2) has changed little.
Alberto Ribotti, Roberto Sorgente, Federica Pessini, Andrea Cucco, Giovanni Quattrocchi, and Mireno Borghini
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4187–4199, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4187-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4187-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Over 1468 hydrological vertical profiles were acquired in 21 years in the Mediterranean Sea. This allowed us to follow the diffusion of the Western Mediterranean Transient along all western seas or make some important repetitions across straits, channels, or at defined locations. These data are now available in four open-access online datasets, including profiles of water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll α fluorescence, and, after 2004, turbidity and pH.
Andrea Pisano, Daniele Ciani, Salvatore Marullo, Rosalia Santoleri, and Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4111–4128, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4111-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4111-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A new operational diurnal sea surface temperature (SST) product has been developed within the Copernicus Marine Service, providing gap-free hourly mean SST fields from January 2019 to the present. This product is able to accurately reproduce the diurnal cycle, the typical day–night SST oscillation mainly driven by solar heating, including extreme diurnal warming events. This product can thus represent a valuable dataset to improve the study of those processes that require a subdaily frequency.
Natalia Tilinina, Dmitry Ivonin, Alexander Gavrikov, Vitali Sharmar, Sergey Gulev, Alexander Suslov, Vladimir Fadeev, Boris Trofimov, Sergey Bargman, Leysan Salavatova, Vasilisa Koshkina, Polina Shishkova, Elizaveta Ezhova, Mikhail Krinitsky, Olga Razorenova, Klaus Peter Koltermann, Vladimir Tereschenkov, and Alexey Sokov
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 3615–3633, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3615-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3615-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present wind wave parameter data from research cruises in the North Atlantic in 2020 and 2021 and the SeaVision system for measuring wind wave characteristics with a standard marine navigation X-band radar. We promote the potential of ship navigation X-band radars (when assembled with SeaVision or similar systems) for the development of a new near-global observational network, providing a much larger number of wind wave observations.
Üwe S. N. Best, Mick van der Wegen, Jasper Dijkstra, Johan Reyns, Bram C. van Prooijen, and Dano Roelvink
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2445–2462, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2445-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2445-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The combination of seawalls and vegetation may be the key to Guyana's survival against rising water levels; however knowledge about the system behaviour and use of vegetation is inadequate. This paper comprises the first dataset since the 1970s along the Guyana coastline. Instruments were deployed to capture data on the water levels, waves and sediment locally. Data revealed the ways in which sediment is transported and deposited, as well as the wave damping of the mangrove–mudflat system.
Matthias Fuchs, Juri Palmtag, Bennet Juhls, Pier Paul Overduin, Guido Grosse, Ahmed Abdelwahab, Michael Bedington, Tina Sanders, Olga Ogneva, Irina V. Fedorova, Nikita S. Zimov, Paul J. Mann, and Jens Strauss
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2279–2301, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2279-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2279-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We created digital, high-resolution bathymetry data sets for the Lena Delta and Kolyma Gulf regions in northeastern Siberia. Based on nautical charts, we digitized depth points and isobath lines, which serve as an input for a 50 m bathymetry model. The benefit of this data set is the accurate mapping of near-shore areas as well as the offshore continuation of the main deep river channels. This will improve the estimation of river outflow and the nutrient flux output into the coastal zone.
Yves Quilfen, Jean-François Piolle, and Bertrand Chapron
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1493–1512, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1493-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1493-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite sea surface heights (SSHs) are key observations used to monitor ocean dynamics. For each satellite altimeter mission, differing noise mixes with SSH signals preclude analysis of the smallest ocean scales. Using an adaptive filter, a new data set is produced for three altimeters, showing that SSH variability in the mesoscale 30–120 km wavelength band can now be more consistently resolved. For the first time, global small-scale ocean kinetic energy distributions are precisely monitored.
Cited articles
Ashmore, D. W., Hubbard, B., Luckman, A., Kulessa, B., Bevan, S., Booth,
A., Munneke, P. K., O'Leary, M., Sevestre, H., and Holland, P. R.: Ice and
firn heterogeneity within Larsen C Ice Shelf from borehole optical
televiewing, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 122, 1139–1153, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jf004047, 2017.
Booth, A.: Seismic refraction data, Antarctic Peninsula, Larsen C Ice Shelf,
Whirlwind Inlet, November-December 2015 [Data set], UK Polar Data Centre,
Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation,
https://doi.org/10.5285/5D63777D-B375-4791-918F-9A5527093298, 2019.
Booth, A., White, J., Pearce, E., Cornford, S., Brisbourne, A., Luckman, A.,
and Kulessa, B.: Seismic refraction data from two sites on Antarctica's
Larsen C Ice Shelf, Nov 2017, following the calving of Iceberg A68 [Data
set], UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK
Research & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.5285/147BAF64-B9AF-4A97-8091-26AEC0D3C0BB,
2019.
Brisbourne, A., Hudson, T., and Holland, P.: Seismic bathymetry data,
Antarctic Peninsula, Larsen C Ice Shelf, 2016 [Data set], UK Polar Data
Centre, Natural Environment Research Council,
UK Research & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.5285/315740B1-A7B9-4CF0-9521-86F046E33E9A, 2019.
Brisbourne, A. M., Smith, A. M., King, E. C., Nicholls, K. W., Holland, P. R., and Makinson, K.: Seabed topography beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf from seismic soundings, The Cryosphere, 8, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1-2014, 2014.
Cochran, J. R. and Bell, R. E.: Inversion of IceBridge gravity data for
continental shelf bathymetry beneath the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica, J.
Glaciol., 58, 540–552, https://doi.org/10.3189/2012JoG11J033, 2012.
Cook, A. J. and Vaughan, D. G.: Overview of areal changes of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 50 years, The Cryosphere, 4, 77–98, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-4-77-2010, 2010.
Forste, C., Schmidt, R., Stubenvoll, R., Flechtner, F., Meyer, U., Konig,
R., Neumayer, H., Biancale, R., Lemoine, J. M., Bruinsma, S., Loyer, S.,
Barthelmes, F., and Esselborn, S.: The GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam/Groupe
de Recherche de Geodesie Spatiale satellite-only and combined gravity field
models: EIGEN-GL04S1 and EIGEN-GL04C, J. Geodesy, 82, 331-346, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-007-0183-8, 2008.
Fretwell, P., Pritchard, H. D., Vaughan, D. G., Bamber, J. L., Barrand, N. E., Bell, R., Bianchi, C., Bingham, R. G., Blankenship, D. D., Casassa, G., Catania, G., Callens, D., Conway, H., Cook, A. J., Corr, H. F. J., Damaske, D., Damm, V., Ferraccioli, F., Forsberg, R., Fujita, S., Gim, Y., Gogineni, P., Griggs, J. A., Hindmarsh, R. C. A., Holmlund, P., Holt, J. W., Jacobel, R. W., Jenkins, A., Jokat, W., Jordan, T., King, E. C., Kohler, J., Krabill, W., Riger-Kusk, M., Langley, K. A., Leitchenkov, G., Leuschen, C., Luyendyk, B. P., Matsuoka, K., Mouginot, J., Nitsche, F. O., Nogi, Y., Nost, O. A., Popov, S. V., Rignot, E., Rippin, D. M., Rivera, A., Roberts, J., Ross, N., Siegert, M. J., Smith, A. M., Steinhage, D., Studinger, M., Sun, B., Tinto, B. K., Welch, B. C., Wilson, D., Young, D. A., Xiangbin, C., and Zirizzotti, A.: Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 7, 375–393, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-375-2013, 2013.
Fürst, J. J., Durand, G., Gillet-Chaulet, F., Tavard, L., Rankl, M.,
Braun, M., and Gagliardini, O.: The safety band of Antarctic ice shelves,
Nat. Clim. Change, 6, 479–482, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2912, 2016.
Goldberg, D. N., Gourmelen, N., Kimura, S., Millan, R., and Snow, K.: How
Accurately Should We Model Ice Shelf Melt Rates?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46,
189–199, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl080383, 2019.
Grosfeld, K., Gerdes, R., and Determann, J.: Thermohaline circulation and
interaction between ice shelf cavities and the adjacent open ocean, J.
Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 102, 15595–15610, https://doi.org/10.1029/97jc00891, 1997.
Holland, P. R., Brisbourne, A., Corr, H. F. J., McGrath, D., Purdon, K., Paden, J., Fricker, H. A., Paolo, F. S., and Fleming, A. H.: Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of Larsen C Ice-Shelf thinning, The Cryosphere, 9, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1005-2015, 2015.
Howat, I. M., Porter, C., Smith, B. E., Noh, M.-J., and Morin, P.: The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 13, 665–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-665-2019, 2019.
Hubbard, B., Luckman, A., Ashmore, D. W., Bevan, S., Kulessa, B., Kuipers
Munneke, P., Philippe, M., Jansen, D., Booth, A., Sevestre, H., Tison,
J.-L., O'Leary, M., and Rutt, I.: Massive subsurface ice formed by
refreezing of ice-shelf melt ponds, Nat. Commun., 7, 11897, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11897, 2016.
Jacobs, S. S.: Bottom water production and its links with the thermohaline
circulation, Antarct. Sci., 16, 427–437, 2004.
Jansen, D., Luckman, A. J., Cook, A., Bevan, S., Kulessa, B., Hubbard, B., and Holland, P. R.: Brief Communication: Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf presents significant risk to stability, The Cryosphere, 9, 1223–1227, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1223-2015, 2015.
Jenkins, A., Dutrieux, P., Jacobs, S. S., McPhail, S. D., Perrett, J. R.,
Webb, A. T., and White, D.: Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West
Antarctica and implications for its retreat, Nat. Geosci., 3, 468–472, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo890, 2010.
Jullion, L., Garabato, A. C. N., Meredith, M. P., Holland, P. R., Courtois,
P., and King, B. A.: Decadal Freshening of the Antarctic Bottom Water
Exported from the Weddell Sea, J. Climate, 26, 8111–8125, https://doi.org/10.1175/Jcli-D-12-00765.1, 2013.
Khazendar, A., Borstad, C. P., Scheuchl, B., Rignot, E., and Seroussi, H.:
The evolving instability of the remnant Larsen B Ice Shelf and its tributary
glaciers, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 419, 199–210, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.03.014,
2015.
Kirchner, J. F. and Bentley, C. R.: RIGGS III: Seismic short-refraction
studies using an analytical curve-fitting technique, Antarct. Res. Ser., 42,
109–126, 1990.
Kohnen, H.: The temperature dependence of seismic waves in ice, J. Glaciol.,
13, 144–147, 1974.
Kulessa, B. and Bevan, S.: Seismic refraction data, Antarctic Peninsula,
Larsen C Ice Shelf, Cabinet Inlet, November-December 2014 [Data set], UK
Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research &
Innovation, https://doi.org/10.5285/FFF8AFEE-4978-495E-9210-120872983A8D, 2019.
Kulessa, B., Booth, A. D., O'Leary, M., McGrath, D., King, E. C., Luckman,
A. J., Holland, P. R., Jansen, D., Bevan, S. L., Thompson, S. S., and
Hubbard, B.: Seawater softening of suture zones inhibits fracture
propagation in Antarctic ice shelves, Nat. Commun., 10, 5491, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13539-x, 2019.
Mueller, R. D., Padman, L., Dinniman, M. S., Erofeeva, S. Y., Fricker, H.
A., and King, M. A.: Impact of tide-topography interactions on basal melting
of Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 117, C05005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011jc007263, 2012.
Muto, A., Peters, L. E., Gohl, K., Sasgen, I., Alley, R. B., Anandakrishnan,
S., and Riverman, K. L.: Subglacial bathymetry and sediment distribution
beneath Pine Island Glacier ice shelf modeled using aerogravity and in situ
geophysical data: New results, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 433, 63–75, 2016.
Nicholls, K. W., Makinson, K., and Venables, E. J.: Ocean circulation
beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica from in situ observations, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 39, L19608, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012gl053187, 2012.
Nost, O. A.: Measurements of ice thickness and seabed topography under the
Fimbul Ice Shelf, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans,
109, C10010, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004jc002277, 2004.
Pattyn, F., Favier, L., Sun, S., and Durand, G.: Progress in Numerical
Modeling of Antarctic Ice-Sheet Dynamics, Current Climate Change Reports, 3,
174–184, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-017-0069-7, 2017.
Rignot, E., Casassa, G., Gogineni, P., Krabill, W., Rivera, A., and Thomas,
R.: Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the
collapse of Larsen B ice shelf, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L18401, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004gl020697, 2004.
Rosier, S. H. R., Hofstede, C., Brisbourne, A. M., Hattermann, T., Nicholls,
K. W., Davis, P. E. D., Anker, P. G. D., Hillenbrand, C. D., Smith, A. M.,
and Corr, H. F. J.: A New Bathymetry for the Southeastern Filchner-Ronne Ice
Shelf: Implications for Modern Oceanographic Processes and Glacial History,
J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 123, 4610–4623, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013982, 2018.
Rott, H., Rack, W., Nagler, T., and Skvarca, P.: Climatically induced
retreat and collapse of northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, Ann.
Glaciol., 27, 86–92, 1998.
Rott, H., Rack, W., Skvarca, P., and de Angelis, H.: Northern Larsen Ice
Shelf, Antarctica: further retreat after collapse, Ann. Glaciol., 34,
277–282, 2002.
Scambos, T. A., Bohlander, J. A., Shuman, C. A., and Skvarca, P.: Glacier
acceleration and thinning after ice shelf collapse in the Larsen B
embayment, Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L18402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004gl020670, 2004.
Scambos, T. A., Haran, T. M., Fahnestock, M. A., Painter, T. H., and
Bohlander, J.: MODIS-based Mosaic of Antarctica (MOA) data sets:
Continent-wide surface morphology and snow grain size, Remote Sens.
Environ., 111, 242–257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2006.12.020, 2007.
Sibson, R.: A brief description of natural neighbor interpolation, in:
Interpolating Multivariate Data, edited by: Barnett, V., Wiley, Chichester,
21-36, 1981.
Skvarca, P., Rack, W., Rott, H., and Donangelo, T. I. Y.: Climatic trend and
the retreat and disintegration of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula: an
overview, Polar Res., 18, 151–157, 1999.
Vaughan, D. G. and Doake, C. S. M.: Recent atmospheric warming and retreat
of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula, Nature, 379, 328–331, https://doi.org/10.1038/379328a0, 1996.
Vaughan, D. G., Marshall, G. J., Connolley, W. M., Parkinson, C., Mulvaney,
R., Hodgson, D. A., King, J. C., Pudsey, C. J., and Turner, J.: Recent rapid
regional climate warming on the Antarctic Peninsula, Climatic Change, 60,
243–274, 2003.
Voigt, D. E., Peters, L. E., and Anandakrishnan, S.: “Georods”: the
development of a four-element geophone for improved seismic imaging of
glaciers and ice sheets, Ann. Glaciol., 54, 142–148, https://doi.org/10.3189/2013AoG64A432,
2013.
Short summary
Melting of the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica may lead to its collapse. To help estimate its lifespan we need to understand how the ocean can circulate beneath. This requires knowledge of the geometry of the sub-shelf cavity. New and existing measurements of seabed depth are integrated to produce a map of the ocean cavity beneath the ice shelf. The observed deep seabed may provide a pathway for circulation of warm ocean water but at the same time reduce rapid tidal melt at a critical location.
Melting of the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica may lead to its collapse. To help estimate its...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint