scholarly journals Formation processes of basal ice at Hamna Glacier, Sôya Coast, East Antarctica, inferred by detailed co-isotopic analyses

2001 ◽  
Vol 47 (157) ◽  
pp. 223-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshinori Iizuka ◽  
Hiroshi Satake ◽  
Takayuki Shiraiwa ◽  
Renji Naruse
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Open System ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Isotopic Analyses

AbstractDebris-laden basal ice is exposed along an ice cliff near Hamna Glacier, Sôya Coast, East Antarctica. The basal ice is about 6.8 m thick and shows conspicuous stratigraphic features. The upper 5.5 m consists of alternating layers of bubble-free and bubbly ice. δ values of the bubble-free ice layers are enriched by 2.4 ±1.0‰ (standard deviation) for δ18O compared to values of neighboring bubbly ice layers above, and slopes of δ18O vs δD are close to 8. Such layers are suggested to have been formed by refreezing of meltwater in an open system. In contrast, part of the bubbly ice layers shows neutral profiles for stable isotopes, suggesting that these ice masses are undisturbed ice-sheet ice which was not affected by melting and freezing. The massive alternating layers are thus considered to have been formed by folding of refrozen and non-melted layers. The lower 1.3 m consists predominantly of bubble-free massive ice. The profile of co-isotopic values shows a change of about 3.0‰ for δ18O at the interface between bubble-free and bubbly ice. Since the isotopic change occurred over a wider thickness than the upper 5.5 m, the basal ice is suggested to have been formed by refreezing of meltwater on a larger scale than the upper 5.5 m.

Subglacially precipitated carbonates record geochemical interactions and pollen preservation at the base of the Laurentide Ice Sheet on central Baffin Island, eastern Canadian Arctic

2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt A. Refsnider ◽  
Gifford H. Miller ◽  
Marilyn L. Fogel ◽  
Bianca Fréchette ◽  
Roxane Bowden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Weathering ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Columnar Crystal ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Isotopic Analyses

AbstractThe mineralogy and isotopic compositions of subglacially precipitated carbonate crusts (SPCCs) provide information on conditions and processes beneath former glaciers and ice sheets. Here we describe SPCCs formed on gneissic bedrock at the bed of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the last glacial maximum on central Baffin Island. Geochemical data indicate that the Ca in the crusts was likely derived from the subglacial chemical weathering Ca-bearing minerals in the local bedrock. C and Sr isotopic analyses reveal that the C in the calcite was derived predominantly from older plant debris. The δ18O values of the SPCCs suggest that these crusts formed in isotopic equilibrium with basal ice LIS preserved in the Barnes Ice Cap (BIC). Columnar crystal fabric and the predominance of sparite over micrite in the SPCCs are indicative of carbonate precipitation under open-system conditions. However, the mean δ18O value of the calcite crusts is ~ 10‰ higher than those of primary LIS ice preserved in the BIC, demonstrating that SPCCs record the isotopic composition of only basal ice. Palynomorph assemblages preserved within the calcite and basal BIC ice include species last endemic to the Arctic in the early Tertiary. The source of these palynomorphs remains enigmatic.

Satellite Altimeter Results Over East Antarctica

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 32-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Tracking System ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Satellite Altimeter ◽  
Ice Shelves ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Operational Lifetime ◽  
Waveform Retracking ◽  
Better Than

During the operational lifetime of the Seasat altimeter from 3 July to 10 October 1978, more than 450 overflights were made over East Antarctica inland to latitude 72°S. An analysis of selected passes over a variety of ice features demonstrates that the oceanographic altimeter performed surprisingly well over the ice sheet and ice shelves, acquiring useful measurements during approximately 70% of each pass. The altimeter's onboard tracking system dampened out the ice-surface elevations, but post-flight retracking of the stored return waveforms reveals excellent ice-surface details. After waveform retracking, the altimeter repeatability is better than ±1 m.

scholarly journals Discharge of debris from ice at the margin of the Greenland ice sheet

2002 ◽  
Vol 48 (161) ◽  
pp. 192-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G. Knight ◽  
Richard I. Waller ◽  
Carrie J. Patterson ◽  
Alison P. Jones ◽  
Zoe P. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Outlet Glacier ◽  
Tidewater Glaciers ◽  
Sediment Production ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Sediment Transfer ◽  
A Minor

AbstractSediment production at a terrestrial section of the ice-sheet margin in West Greenland is dominated by debris released through the basal ice layer. The debris flux through the basal ice at the margin is estimated to be 12–45 m3 m−1 a−1. This is three orders of magnitude higher than that previously reported for East Antarctica, an order of magnitude higher than sites reported from in Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, but an order of magnitude lower than values previously reported from tidewater glaciers in Alaska and other high-rate environments such as surging glaciers. At our site, only negligible amounts of debris are released through englacial, supraglacial or subglacial sediment transfer. Glaciofluvial sediment production is highly localized, and long sections of the ice-sheet margin receive no sediment from glaciofluvial sources. These findings differ from those of studies at more temperate glacial settings where glaciofluvial routes are dominant and basal ice contributes only a minor percentage of the debris released at the margin. These data on debris flux through the terrestrial margin of an outlet glacier contribute to our limited knowledge of debris production from the Greenland ice sheet.

scholarly journals Site information and initial results from deep ice drilling on Law Dome, Antarctica

1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (143) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.I. Morgan ◽  
C.W. Wookey ◽  
J. Li ◽  
T.D. van Ommen ◽  
W. Skinner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
High Accumulation ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Initial Results ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractThe aim of deep ice drilling on Law Dome, Antarctica, has been to exploit the special characteristics of Law Dome summit, i.e. low temperature and high accumulation near an ice divide, to obtain a high-resolution ice core for climatic/environmental studies of the Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Drilling was completed in February 1993, when basal ice containing small fragments of rock was reached at a depth of 1196 m. Accurate ice dating, obtained by counting annual layers revealed by fine-detail δ18О, peroxide and electrical-conductivity measurements, is continuous down to 399 m, corresponding to a date of AD 1304. Sulphate concentration measurements, made around depths where conductivity tracing indicates volcanic fallout, allow confirmation of the dating (for Agung in 1963 and Tambora in 1815) or estimates of the eruption date from the ice dating (for the Kuwae, Vanuatu, eruption ~1457). The lower part of the core is dated by extrapolating the layer-counting using a simple model of the ice flow. At the LGM, ice-fabric measurements show a large decrease (250 to 14 mm2) in crystal size and a narrow maximum in c-axis vertically. The main zone of strong single-pole fabrics however, is located higher up in a broad zone around 900 m. Oxygen-isotope (δ18O) measurements show Holocene ice down to 1113 m, the LGM at 1133 m and warm (δ18O) about the same as Holocene) ice near the base of the ice sheet. The LGM/Holocene δ18O shift of 7.0‰, only ~1‰ larger than for Vostok, indicates that Law Dome remained an independent ice cap and was not overridden by the inland ice sheet in the Glacial.

scholarly journals Refined broad-scale sub-glacial morphology of Aurora Subglacial Basin, East Antarctica derived by an ice-dynamics-based interpolation scheme

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Roberts ◽  
R. C. Warner ◽  
D. Young ◽  
A. Wright ◽  
T. D. van Ommen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Interpolation Scheme ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
High Resolution Data ◽  
Physically Based ◽  
Glacial Morphology

Abstract. Ice thickness data over much of East Antarctica are sparse and irregularly distributed. This poses difficulties for reconstructing the homogeneous coverage needed to properly assess underlying sub-glacial morphology and fundamental geometric constraints on sea level rise. Here we introduce a new physically-based ice thickness interpolation scheme and apply this to existing ice thickness data in the Aurora Subglacial Basin region. The skill and robustness of the new reconstruction is demonstrated by comparison with new data from the ICECAP project. The interpolated morphology shows an extensive marine-based ice sheet, with considerably more area below sea-level than shown by prior studies. It also shows deep features connecting the coastal grounding zone with the deepest regions in the interior. This has implications for ice sheet response to a warming ocean and underscores the importance of obtaining additional high resolution data in these marginal zones for modelling ice sheet evolution.

scholarly journals Ice sheet retreat and glacio-isostatic adjustment in Lützow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica

2017 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 85-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elie Verleyen ◽  
Ines Tavernier ◽  
Dominic A. Hodgson ◽  
Pippa L. Whitehouse ◽  
Sakae Kudoh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Isostatic Adjustment

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 Brief communication: Rare ambient saturation during drifting snow occurrences at a coastal location of East Antarctica

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 3405-3412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Amory ◽  
Christoph Kittel
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Strong Increase ◽  
Katabatic Wind ◽  
Strong Wind ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Drifting Snow

Abstract. Sublimation of snow particles during transport has been recognized as an important ablation process on the Antarctic ice sheet. The resulting increase in moisture content and cooling of the ambient air are thermodynamic negative feedbacks that both contribute to increase the relative humidity of the air, inhibiting further sublimation when saturation is reached. This self-limiting effect and the associated development of saturated near-surface air layers in drifting snow conditions have mainly been described through modelling studies and a few field observations. A set of meteorological data, including drifting snow mass fluxes and vertical profiles of relative humidity, collected at site D17 in coastal Adélie Land (East Antarctica) during 2013 is used to study the relationship between saturation of the near-surface atmosphere and the occurrence of drifting snow in a katabatic wind region that is among the most prone to snow transport by wind. Atmospheric moistening by the sublimation of the windborne snow particles generally results in a strong increase in relative humidity with the magnitude of drifting snow and a decrease in its vertical gradient, suggesting that windborne-snow sublimation can be an important contributor to the local near-surface moisture budget. Despite a high incidence of drifting snow at the measurement location (60.1 % of the time), saturation, when attained, is however most often limited to a thin air layer below 1 m above ground. The development of a near-surface saturated air layer up to the highest measurement level of 5.5 m is observed in only 8.2 % of the drifting snow occurrences or 6.3 % of the time and mainly occurs in strong wind speed and drift conditions. This relatively rare occurrence of ambient saturation is explained by the likely existence of moisture-removal mechanisms inherent to the katabatic and turbulent nature of the boundary-layer flow that weaken the negative feedback of windborne-snow sublimation. Such mechanisms, potentially quite active in katabatic-generated windborne-snow layers all over Antarctica, may be very important in understanding the surface mass and atmospheric moisture budgets of the ice sheet by enhancing windborne-snow sublimation.

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