The Amery Ice Shelf and its hinterland

Polar Record ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 10 (64) ◽  
pp. 30-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Mellor ◽  
Graeme McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Prydz Bay ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Antarctic Research ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
The Antarctic

During the thirty years since the Amery Ice Shelf was first sighted there has been a steady accumulation of information, first on the ice shelf itself and later on the interesting mountains and glacier systems which lie to its south. The ice shelf occupies the head of a large embayment consisting of Prydz Bay and Mackenzie Bay, which deeply indents the coastline of the Antarctic mainland near the borders of MacRobertson Land and Princess Elizabeth Land. An associated valley runs south from the bay, between the Prince Charles Mountains and the Mawson Escarpment, and it is occupied by one of the world's largest valley glaciers, the Lambert Glacier. (In fact, recent findings by Soviet parties suggest that the Lambert Glacier is considerably longer than the Beardmore Glacier.) The exploration, survey and subsequent mapping of the ice shelf, and the mountains and glaciers of its hinterland, by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions in recent years has been a major contribution to Antarctic geography.

scholarly journals Revisiting Ice Flux and Mass Balance of the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf System Using Multi-Remote-Sensing Datasets, East Antarctica

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 391
Author(s):  
Derui Xu ◽  
Xueyuan Tang ◽  
Shuhu Yang ◽  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Lijuan Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
The Antarctic

Due to rapid global warming, the relationship between the mass loss of the Antarctic ice sheet and rising sea levels are attracting widespread attention. The Lambert–Amery glacial system is the largest drainage system in East Antarctica, and its mass balance has an important influence on the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. In this paper, the recent ice flux in the Lambert Glacier of the Lambert–Amery system was systematically analyzed based on recently updated remote sensing data. According to Landsat-8 ice velocity data from 2018 to April 2019 and the updated Bedmachine v2 ice thickness dataset in 2021, the contribution of ice flux approximately 140 km downstream from Dome A in the Lambert Glacier area to downstream from the glacier is 8.5 ± 1.9, and the ice flux in the middle of the convergence region is 18.9 ± 2.9. The ice mass input into the Amery ice shelf through the grounding line of the whole glacier is 19.9 ± 1.3. The ice flux output from the mainstream area of the grounding line is 19.3 ± 1.0. Using the annual SMB data of the regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO v2.3) as the quality input, the mass balance of the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Lambert Glacier was analyzed. The results show that recent positive accumulation appears in the middle region of the glacier (about 74–78°S, 67–85°E) and the net accumulation of the whole glacier is 2.4 ± 3.5. Although the mass balance of the Lambert Glacier continues to show a positive accumulation, and the positive value in the region is decreasing compared with values obtained in early 2000.

Movement of the Amery Ice Shelf

Polar Record ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 13 (85) ◽  
pp. 439-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Law
Keyword(s):  
Prydz Bay ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Glacier System ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Lambert Glacier

The Lambert Glacier system, one of the largest in Antarctica, drains from Princess Elizabeth Land into Prydz Bay, terminating in the Amery Ice Shelf, in about long 70° to 75° E.

Modelling the ocean circulation and the basal melting in the Prydz Bay-Amery Ice Shelf system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Jin ◽  
Antony J. Payne ◽  
William Seviour ◽  
Christopher Bull
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Water Masses ◽  
Prydz Bay ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Oceanic Circulation ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Thermodynamic Structure ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Basal Melting

<p>The basal melting of the Amery Ice Shelf (AIS) in East Antarctica and its connections with the oceanic circulation are investigated by a regional ocean model. The simulated estimations of net melt rate over AIS from 1976 to 2005 vary from 1 to 2 m/yr depending primarily due to inflow of modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW). Prydz Bay Eastern Costal Current (PBECC) and the eastern branch of Prydz Bay Gyre (PBG) are identified as two main mCDW intrusion pathways. The oceanic heat transport from both PBECC and PBG has significant seasonal variability, which is associated with the Antarctic Slope Current. The onshore heat transport has a long-lasting effect on basal melting. The basal melting is primarily driven by the inflowing water masses though a positive feedback mechanism. The intruding warm water masses destabilize the thermodynamic structure in the sub-ice shelf cavity therefore enhancing the overturning circulations, leading to further melting due to increasing heat transport. However, the inflowing saltier water masses due to sea-ice formation could offset the effect of temperature through stratifying the thermodynamic structure, then suppressing the overturning circulation and reducing the basal melting.</p>

scholarly journals Modelling the response of the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica, to uncertain climate forcing over the 21st and 22nd centuries

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1057-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Gong ◽  
S. L. Cornford ◽  
A. J. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Adaptive Mesh ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Lambert Glacier

Abstract. The interaction between the climate system and the large polar ice sheet regions is a key process in global environmental change. We carried out dynamic ice simulations of one of the largest drainage systems in East Antarctica: the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system, with an adaptive mesh ice sheet model. The ice sheet model is driven by surface accumulation and basal melt rates computed by the FESOM (Finite-Element Sea-Ice Ocean Model) ocean model and the RACMO2 (Regional Atmospheric Climate Model) and LMDZ4 (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoom) atmosphere models. The change of ice thickness and velocity in the ice shelf is mainly influenced by the basal melt distribution, but, although the ice shelf thins in most of the simulations, there is little grounding line retreat. We find that the Lambert Glacier grounding line can retreat as much as 40 km if there is sufficient thinning of the ice shelf south of Clemence Massif, but the ocean model does not provide sufficiently high melt rates in that region. Overall, the increased accumulation computed by the atmosphere models outweighs ice stream acceleration so that the net contribution to sea level rise is negative.

scholarly journals Evaluation of six geothermal heat flux maps for the Antarctic Lambert-Amery glacial system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoran Kang ◽  
Liyun Zhao ◽  
Michael Wolovick ◽  
John C. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Frictional Heating ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Geothermal Heat ◽  
Glacier System ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Ice Sheet Dynamics ◽  
Subglacial Lakes ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Basal thermal conditions play an important role in ice sheet dynamics, and they are sensitive to geothermal heat flux (GHF). Here we estimate the basal thermal conditions, including basal temperature, basal melt rate, and friction heat underneath the Lambert-Amery glacier system in east Antarctica, using a combination of a forward model and an inversion from a 3D ice flow model. We assess the sensitivity and uncertainty of basal thermal conditions using six different GHFs. We evaluate the modelled results using all available observed subglacial lakes. There are very large differences in modelled spatial pattern of temperate basal conditions using the different GHFs. The two most-recent GHF fields inverted from aerial geomagnetic observations have higher values of GHF in the region, produce a larger warm-based area, and match the observed subglacial lakes better than the other GHFs. The fast flowing glacier region has a lower modelled basal friction coefficient, faster basal velocity, with higher basal frictional heating in the range of 50–2000 mW m−2 than the base under slower flowing glaciated areas. The modelled basal melt rate reaches ten to hundreds of mm per year locally in Lambert, Lepekhin and Kronshtadtskiy glaciers feeding the Amery ice shelf, and ranges from 0–5 mm yr−1 on the temperate base of the vast inland region.

scholarly journals Radio-echo sounding of the lambert glacier basin

1975 ◽  
Vol 15 (73) ◽  
pp. 103-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. I. Morgan ◽  
W. F. Budd
Keyword(s):  
Surface Topography ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Deep Trench ◽  
Glacier System ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
Echo Sounding

AbstractSeveral seasons of aerial ice-thickness soundings over the region of the Prince Charles Mountains, the Lambert Glacier system, the Amery Ice Shelf, and their drainage basin in east Antarctica have now been completed. The measurements provide detailed maps of surface topography and ice thickness over an area of about 2 X 105 km2. The equipment used consisted of a 100 MHz echo sounder designed and constructed by Antarctic Division and carried in a Pilatus Porter aircraft. ERTS imagery provides a valuable background for portraying the echo-sounding results. These results show that an extensive, deep subglacial valley system forms the basis of the large drainage basin with concave ice surface topography which channels the ice flow into the Amery Ice Shelf. Deep glacial streams penetrate a long way into the ice-sheet basin. The rock relief is considerable, varying from 3 000 m above (present) sea-level to 2 000 m below sea-level. A very deep subglacial trench exists in the region of the confluence of the Fisher, Mellor, and Lambert Glaciers where the ice thickness reaches 2 500 m. The low surface slope and high ice velocity are suggestive of high melt production in this region. The strong echo, together with the high bedrock back-slope, suggests that the deep trench may contain a basal melt lake.

scholarly journals Surging of Fisher Glacier, Eastern Antarctica: Evidence From Geomorphology

1982 ◽  
Vol 28 (98) ◽  
pp. 23-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Wellman
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
Present Level ◽  
Altitude Range ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Lambert Glacier

AbstractA study of the geomorphology of the Prince Charles Mountains using colour vertical air photographs shows well–preserved old moraines throughout much of the outcrop area. Along Fisher Glacier, lower Lambert Glacier and the Amery Ice Shelf, within the altitude range 50–2 000 m, the old moraines show that the ice level had risen 150–200 m above the present level at least three times. Old moraines elsewhere show that none of the other glaciers had risen significantly in their upper parts; the rise of their lower parts was caused by the rise of lower Lambert Glacier and the Amery Ice Shelf. The changes in ice level are unlikely to be due to climatic change because this would not repeatedly affect only one glacier draining central Antarctica. It is thought that the changes in ice level are caused by repeated surges of Fisher Glacier.

scholarly journals Mass balance of the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica: a comparison of computed balance fluxes and measured fluxes

2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (155) ◽  
pp. 561-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen A. Fricker ◽  
Roland C. Warner ◽  
Ian Allison
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Radar Altimeter ◽  
Drainage Basins ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Ice Sheet Mass Balance ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
Lambert Glacier Basin

AbstractWe combine European Remote-sensing Satellite (ERS-1) radar altimeter surface elevations (Fricker and others, 2000) with six different accumulation distributions to compute balance fluxes for the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf drainage system. These interpolated balance fluxes are compared with fluxes derived from in situ measurements of ice thickness and velocity at 73 stations of the Lambert Glacier basin traverse and at 11 stations further downstream, to assess the system’s state of balance. For the upstream line we obtain a range of imbalance estimates, from −23.8% to +19.9% of the observed flux, reflecting the sensitivity to the accumulation distributions. For some of the accumulation distributions the imbalance estimates vary significantly between different parts of the line. Imbalance estimates for the downstream line range from −17.7% to +70.2%, with four of the estimates exceeding +30%, again reflecting the sensitivity of the result to input accumulation, and strongly suggesting that the mass balance of the region between the two lines is positive. Our results confirm the importance of accurate estimates of accumulation in ice-sheet mass-balance studies. Furthermore, they suggest that it is not possible to accurately determine the state of balance of large Antarctic drainage basins on the basis of currently available accumulation distributions.

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