Massive subsurface ice formed by refreezing of ice-shelf melt ponds

Bryn Hubbard (), Adrian Luckman, David W. Ashmore, Suzanne Bevan, Bernd Kulessa, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Morgane Philippe, Daniela Jansen, Adam Booth, Heidi Sevestre, Jean-Louis Tison, Martin O’Leary and Ian Rutt
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Bryn Hubbard: Centre for Glaciology, Aberystwyth University
Adrian Luckman: Glaciology Group, Swansea University
David W. Ashmore: Centre for Glaciology, Aberystwyth University
Suzanne Bevan: Glaciology Group, Swansea University
Bernd Kulessa: Glaciology Group, Swansea University
Peter Kuipers Munneke: Glaciology Group, Swansea University
Morgane Philippe: Laboratoire de Glaciologie, Environnement et Société, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Daniela Jansen: Alfred Wegener Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Adam Booth: School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
Heidi Sevestre: University Centre in Svalbard
Jean-Louis Tison: Laboratoire de Glaciologie, Environnement et Société, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Martin O’Leary: Glaciology Group, Swansea University
Ian Rutt: Glaciology Group, Swansea University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Surface melt ponds form intermittently on several Antarctic ice shelves. Although implicated in ice-shelf break up, the consequences of such ponding for ice formation and ice-shelf structure have not been evaluated. Here we report the discovery of a massive subsurface ice layer, at least 16 km across, several kilometres long and tens of metres deep, located in an area of intense melting and intermittent ponding on Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica. We combine borehole optical televiewer logging and radar measurements with remote sensing and firn modelling to investigate the layer, found to be ∼10 °C warmer and ∼170 kg m−3 denser than anticipated in the absence of ponding and hitherto used in models of ice-shelf fracture and flow. Surface ponding and ice layers such as the one we report are likely to form on a wider range of Antarctic ice shelves in response to climatic warming in forthcoming decades.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11897

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