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


Hubbard, Bryn, Luckman, Adrian, Ashmore, David W ORCID: 0000-0003-4829-7854, Bevan, Suzanne, Kulessa, Bernd, Munneke, Peter Kuipers, Philippe, Morgane, Jansen, Daniela, Booth, Adam, Sevestre, Heidi et al (show 3 more authors) (2016) Massive subsurface ice formed by refreezing of ice-shelf melt ponds. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 7 (1). 11897-.

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Abstract

Surface melt ponds form intermittently on several Antarctic ice shelves. Although implicated in ice-shelf break up, the consequences of such ponding for ice formation and ice-shelf structure have not been evaluated. Here we report the discovery of a massive subsurface ice layer, at least 16 km across, several kilometres long and tens of metres deep, located in an area of intense melting and intermittent ponding on Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica. We combine borehole optical televiewer logging and radar measurements with remote sensing and firn modelling to investigate the layer, found to be ∼10 °C warmer and ∼170 kg m(-3) denser than anticipated in the absence of ponding and hitherto used in models of ice-shelf fracture and flow. Surface ponding and ice layers such as the one we report are likely to form on a wider range of Antarctic ice shelves in response to climatic warming in forthcoming decades.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 13 Climate Action
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 29 Mar 2017 13:41
Last Modified: 16 Mar 2024 14:28
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11897
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3006703
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