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

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.

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 193-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Jiahong ◽  
Wang Yafeng ◽  
Liu Jiying ◽  
Kenneth C. Jezek ◽  
Philippe Huybrechts ◽  
...  

AbstractWe used remote-sensing and in situ measurements of surface accumulation rate, ice surface velocity, thickness and elevation to evaluate the mass budgets of grounded ice-flow regimes that form the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system. Three distinct drainage regimes are considered: the western and eastern margins of the ice shelf, and the southern grounding line at the major outlet glacier confluence, which can be identified with drainage zones 9, 11 and 10 respectively of Giovinetto and Zwally (2000). Our findings show the entire grounded portion of the basin is approximately in balance, with a mass budget of –4.2±9.8 Gt a–1. Drainages 9, 10 and 11 are within balance to the level of our measurement uncertainty, with mass budgets of –2.5±2.8 Gt a–1, –2.6±7.8 Gt a–1 and 0.9±2.3 Gt a–1, respectively. The region upstream of the Australian Lambert Glacier basin (LGB) traverse has a net mass budget of 4.4±6.3 Gt a–1, while the downstream region has –8.9±9.9 Gt a–1. These results indicate that glacier drainages 9, 10 and 11, upstream and downstream of the Australian LGB traverse, are in balance to within our measurement error.


2014 ◽  
Vol 55 (66) ◽  
pp. 81-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiahong Wen ◽  
Long Huang ◽  
Weili Wang ◽  
T.H. Jacka ◽  
V. Damm ◽  
...  

AbstractWe combine radio-echo sounding ice thickness data from the BEDMAP Project database and the PCMEGA (Prince Charles Mountains Expedition of Germany and Australia) dataset to generate a new ice thickness grid for the southern limit region of the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. We then reassess the mass balance of the central portion of the Lambert-Amery system, incorporating flow information derived from synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) and a modeled surface mass-balance dataset based on regional atmospheric modeling. Our analysis reveals that Mellor and Fisher Glaciers are approximately in balance to the level of our measurement uncertainty, while Lambert Glacier has a positive imbalance of 4.2 ±2.3 Gta1. The mass budget for the whole Lambert Glacier basin is approximately in balance, and the average basal melt rate in the downstream section of the ice shelf is 5.1 ± 3.0 m a-1. Our results differ substantially from other recent estimates using hydrostatically derived ice thickness data.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 391
Author(s):  
Derui Xu ◽  
Xueyuan Tang ◽  
Shuhu Yang ◽  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Lijuan Wang ◽  
...  

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.


2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (155) ◽  
pp. 553-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen A. Fricker ◽  
Glenn Hyland ◽  
Richard Coleman ◽  
Neal W. Young

AbstractThe Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system is a major component of the East Antarctic ice sheet. This paper presents two digital elevation models (DEMs) that have been generated for the Lambert–Amery system from validated European Remote-sensing Satellite (ERS-1) radar altimeter waveform data. The first DEM covers the Amery Ice Shelf only, and was produced using kriging on a 1 km grid. The second is a coarser (5 km) DEM of the entire Lambert–Amery system, generated via simple averaging procedures. The DEMs provide unprecedented surface elevation information for the Lambert–Amery system and allow new insight into the glaciology of the region.


1994 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 401-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Hambrey ◽  
Julian A. Dowdeswell

High-resolution visible and near-infrared satellite imagery provides a means of investigating the structural glaciology, and in turn the dynamics, of large ice masses. The Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system is one of the largest ice drainage basins in Antarctica and has previously yielded conflicting evidence concerning its dynamic behaviour: either that the system has a propensity for surging or that it has a constant flow regime. Digital manipulation of Landsat imagery allows analysis of the structure of the glacier system, showing longitudinal foliation, medial moraines and crevasse patterns that provide no evidence of surging behavior during the residence time of ice in the glacier system.


2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.C. McKelvey ◽  
M.J. Hambrey ◽  
D.M. Harwood ◽  
M.C.G. Mabin ◽  
P.-N. Webb ◽  
...  

The northern Prince Charles Mountains overlook the western side of the 700 km long Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf drainage system. Within these mountains, at Amery Oasis (70°50′S, 68°00′E) and Fisher Massif (71°31′S, 67°40′E), the Cenozoic glaciomarine Pagodroma Group consists of four uplifted Miocene and Pliocene–early Pleistocene formations here named the Mount Johnston, Fisher Bench, Battye Glacier and Bardin Bluffs formations. These are composed of massive and stratified diamicts, boulder gravels and minor laminated sandstones, siltstones and mudstones. Each formation rests on either Precambrian metamorphic rocks, or on Permo-Triassic fluvial strata. The unconformity surfaces are parts of the walls and floors of palaeofjords. The Miocene Fisher Bench Formation exceeds 350 m in thickness at Fisher Massif, where the yet older Miocene (or Oligocene) Mount Johnston Formation overlies basement rocks at up to 1400 m above sea level. Individual formations contain either Miocene diatoms, or else Pliocene–early Pleistocene diatom-foram assemblages. The diamicts are interpreted as fjordal ice-proximal or ice-contact sediments, deposited seawards of tidewater glacier fronts located some 250 to 300 km inland of the present ocean margin. Each formation records an ice recession following a glacial expansion.


2004 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 251-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Stosius ◽  
Ute C. Herzfeld

AbstractThe objective of this paper is the comparison of two kriging methods, ordinary kriging and kriging within strata, for calculation of digital elevation models (DEMs) from radar altimeter data, and application to the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica. Two new DEMs are presented. First, a DEM of the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system is calculated from 1997 European Remote-sensing Satellite-2 (ERS-2) radar altimeter (RA) data using geostatistical interpolation. RA data have high along-track density, but gaps between tracks are several kilometers, depending on the observation mode; this requires interpolation. Because the ice-stream/ice-shelf system is of primary interest in glaciological investigations, in the first approach a variogram characteristic of the Lambert Glacier ice surface is used. The resultant map has low errors for the glacier and the ice shelf. To match the surface characteristics of different morphological units that constitute the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf region, a second DEM is constructed as follows: We utilize RADARSAT synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data that were collected in 1997 during the first Antarctic Imaging Campaign and composed into a 125m backscatter-data mosaic by Jezek (1999) and we co-reference the 125m mosaic with the altimetry-derived DEM. The Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf area is then subdivided into several regions which are homogeneous with respect to characteristic surface-morphological properties identified in the SAR mosaic. For those regions, a problem-oriented complex kriging method known as kriging within strata is performed, and the resulting DEM is compared to the DEM that was derived from kriging without regional subdivision.


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