Strong ice-ocean interaction beneath Shirase Glacier Tongue in East Antarctica

Daisuke Hirano (), Takeshi Tamura, Kazuya Kusahara, Kay I. Ohshima, Keith W. Nicholls, Shuki Ushio, Daisuke Simizu, Kazuya Ono, Masakazu Fujii, Yoshifumi Nogi and Shigeru Aoki
Additional contact information
Daisuke Hirano: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University
Takeshi Tamura: National Institute of Polar Research
Kazuya Kusahara: Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania
Kay I. Ohshima: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University
Keith W. Nicholls: British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council
Shuki Ushio: National Institute of Polar Research
Daisuke Simizu: National Institute of Polar Research
Kazuya Ono: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University
Masakazu Fujii: National Institute of Polar Research
Yoshifumi Nogi: National Institute of Polar Research
Shigeru Aoki: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Mass loss from the Antarctic ice sheet, Earth’s largest freshwater reservoir, results directly in global sea-level rise and Southern Ocean freshening. Observational and modeling studies have demonstrated that ice shelf basal melting, resulting from the inflow of warm water onto the Antarctic continental shelf, plays a key role in the ice sheet’s mass balance. In recent decades, warm ocean-cryosphere interaction in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas has received a great deal of attention. However, except for Totten Ice Shelf, East Antarctic ice shelves typically have cold ice cavities with low basal melt rates. Here we present direct observational evidence of high basal melt rates (7–16 m yr−1) beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf, Shirase Glacier Tongue, driven by southward-flowing warm water guided by a deep continuous trough extending to the continental slope. The strength of the alongshore wind controls the thickness of the inflowing warm water layer and the rate of basal melting.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17527-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17527-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17527-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().