Swirls and scoops - Ice-base melt revealed by multibeam imagery of an Antarctic ice shelf

Abstract: Knowledge gaps about how the ocean melts Antarctica’s ice shelves, borne from a lack of observations, lead to large uncertainties in sea level predictions. Using high-resolution maps of the underside of Dotson Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, we reveal the imprint that ice shelf basal melting leaves on the ice. Convection and intermittent warm water intrusions form widespread terraced features through slow melting in quiescent areas, while shear-driven turbulence rapidly melts smooth, eroded topographies in outflow areas, as well as enigmatic teardrop-shaped indentations in the ice. Full-thickness ice fractures, with bases modified by basal melting and convective processes, are observed throughout the area. This new wealth of processes, all active under a single ice shelf, must be considered to accurately predict future Antarctic ice shelf melt.

geochemistryglobal environmental changepaleoceanography and paleoclimatologyocean sciences

Audience: researchers in the discipline

( video )

Comments: Zoom recording passcode:rN4LA%p2

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ANU Research School of Earth Sciences school seminar

Series comments: The ANU Research School of Earth Sciences seminar series regularly features academics, students, and researchers from Australia and around the world to present topics covering the entire range of earth sciences.

The seminars are held in the Jaeger 1 Seminar Room at RSES on Thursdays at 1 pm and also broadcast on zoom ( ID: 843-2801-3439, lightly protected via a password "jaeger" ). They are open to the ANU community and public. Talks will generally be made available on the RSES Seminar website in the days following the seminar.

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