TY - JOUR
T1 - Repeated Tidally Induced Hydrofracture of a Supraglacial Lake at the Amery Ice Shelf Grounding Zone
AU - Trusel, Luke D.
AU - Pan, Zhuolai
AU - Moussavi, Mahsa
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Antarctic Glaciology Program Grant 2021699 to L. D. Trusel and 1643715 to M. Moussavi Additional financial support to L. D. Trusel was provided by Pennsylvania State University. Geospatial support for this work provided by the Polar Geospatial Center under NSF-OPP awards 1043681 and 1559691. DEMs provided by the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and the Polar Geospatial Center under NSF-OPP awards 1543501, 1810976, 1542736, 1559691, 1043681, 1541332, 0753663, 1548562, 1238993 and NASA award NNX10AN61G. Computer time provided through a Blue Waters Innovation Initiative. DEMs produced using data from DigitalGlobe, Inc. We thank Michiel van den Broeke for providing RACMO2 model output, and the Penn State Ice and Climate (PSICE) group for productive discussions. Computations for this research were performed on the Pennsylvania State University’s Institute for Computational and Data Sciences’ Roar supercomputer. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive evaluations that substantially improved this manuscript. 22 February 2018 Worldview-1 image in Figures 2a and 2b copyright 2018 Digital Globe, Inc. 28 February 2018 Worldview-2 image in Figure 2c copyright 2018 Digital Globe, Inc.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Antarctic Glaciology Program Grant 2021699 to L. D. Trusel and 1643715 to M. Moussavi Additional financial support to L. D. Trusel was provided by Pennsylvania State University. Geospatial support for this work provided by the Polar Geospatial Center under NSF‐OPP awards 1043681 and 1559691. DEMs provided by the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and the Polar Geospatial Center under NSF‐OPP awards 1543501, 1810976, 1542736, 1559691, 1043681, 1541332, 0753663, 1548562, 1238993 and NASA award NNX10AN61G. Computer time provided through a Blue Waters Innovation Initiative. DEMs produced using data from DigitalGlobe, Inc. We thank Michiel van den Broeke for providing RACMO2 model output, and the Penn State Ice and Climate (PSICE) group for productive discussions. Computations for this research were performed on the Pennsylvania State University’s Institute for Computational and Data Sciences’ Roar supercomputer. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive evaluations that substantially improved this manuscript. 22 February 2018 Worldview‐1 image in Figures 2a and 2b copyright 2018 Digital Globe, Inc. 28 February 2018 Worldview‐2 image in Figure 2c copyright 2018 Digital Globe, Inc.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Authors.
PY - 2022/4/16
Y1 - 2022/4/16
N2 - Surface melting and lakes are common to Antarctic ice shelves, and their existence and drainages have been invoked as a precursor for ice shelf collapse. Here, we present satellite observations over 2014–2020 of repeated, rapid drainages of a supraglacial lake at the grounding zone of Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. Post-drainage imagery in 2018 reveals lake bottom features characteristic of rapid, vertical lake drainage. Observed lake volumes indicate drainages are not associated with a threshold meltwater volume. Instead, drainages typically coincide with periods of high daily tidal amplitude, suggesting hydrofracture is assisted by tidally forced ice flexure inherent to the ice shelf grounding zone. Combined with observations of widespread grounding zone lake drainages on Amery, these findings indicate ice shelf meltwater accumulation may be inhibited by grounding zone drainage events, thus representing a potential stabilizing mechanism despite enhanced melting common to these regions.
AB - Surface melting and lakes are common to Antarctic ice shelves, and their existence and drainages have been invoked as a precursor for ice shelf collapse. Here, we present satellite observations over 2014–2020 of repeated, rapid drainages of a supraglacial lake at the grounding zone of Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. Post-drainage imagery in 2018 reveals lake bottom features characteristic of rapid, vertical lake drainage. Observed lake volumes indicate drainages are not associated with a threshold meltwater volume. Instead, drainages typically coincide with periods of high daily tidal amplitude, suggesting hydrofracture is assisted by tidally forced ice flexure inherent to the ice shelf grounding zone. Combined with observations of widespread grounding zone lake drainages on Amery, these findings indicate ice shelf meltwater accumulation may be inhibited by grounding zone drainage events, thus representing a potential stabilizing mechanism despite enhanced melting common to these regions.
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U2 - 10.1029/2021GL095661
DO - 10.1029/2021GL095661
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85128460132
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 49
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 7
M1 - e2021GL095661
ER -