Ice-sheet acceleration driven by melt supply variability

Christian Schoof ()
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Christian Schoof: University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada

Nature, 2010, vol. 468, issue 7325, 803-806

Abstract: Melt supply key to speedy ice sheets Recent observations in Greenland have led to the notion that surface meltwater supply to the ice-sheet bed lubricates ice flow, suggesting that climate warming could lead to runaway glacial acceleration. Christian Schoof uses a physically based model that captures drainage channelization under the ice to challenge this view. The model shows that increased melt supply leads to channelization and a drop in water pressure. This causes ice flow to slow down rather than speed up. However, this effect can be overcome if melt supply is variable over short timescales, when temporary pressure spikes can lead to accelerated flow. The positive melt/dynamic thinning feedback is therefore still viable, but is heavily dependent on daily temperature variations and rain events that are largely ignored in current ice sheet models.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09618

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