Thermohaline structure and circulation beneath the Langhovde Glacier ice shelf in East Antarctica

Masahiro Minowa (), Shin Sugiyama, Masato Ito, Shiori Yamane and Shigeru Aoki
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Masahiro Minowa: Hokkaido University
Shin Sugiyama: Hokkaido University
Masato Ito: Hokkaido University
Shiori Yamane: Hokkaido University
Shigeru Aoki: Hokkaido University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Basal melting of ice shelves is considered to be the principal driver of recent ice mass loss in Antarctica. Nevertheless, in-situ oceanic data covering the extensive areas of a subshelf cavity are sparse. Here we show comprehensive structures of temperature, salinity and current measured in January 2018 through four boreholes drilled at a ~3-km-long ice shelf of Langhovde Glacier in East Antarctica. The measurements were performed in 302–12 m-thick ocean cavity beneath 234–412 m-thick ice shelf. The data indicate that Modified Warm Deep Water is transported into the grounding zone beneath a stratified buoyant plume. Water at the ice-ocean interface was warmer than the in-situ freezing point by 0.65–0.95°C, leading to a mean basal melt rate estimate of 1.42 m a−1. Our measurements indicate the existence of a density-driven water circulation in the cavity beneath the ice shelf of Langhovde Glacier, similar to that proposed for warm-ocean cavities of larger Antarctic ice shelves.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23534-w

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