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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 13, 1706, doi:10.1029/2003GL017609, 2003

Timing of Recent Accelerations of Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica

Ian Joughin

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Eric Rignot

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Christine E. Rosanova

Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bozeman, Montana, USA


Baerbel K. Lucchitta

U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA


Jennifer Bohlander

National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA


Abstract

We have used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data and sequential Landsat imagery to identify and temporally constrain two acceleration events on Pine Island Glacier (PIG). These two events are separated by a period of at least seven years (1987–1994). The change in discharge between two flux gates indicates that the majority of the increase in discharge associated with the second acceleration originates well inland (>80 km) from the grounding line. An analysis indicates that changes in driving stress consistent with observed thinning rates are sufficient in magnitude to explain much of the acceleration.

Received 24 April 2003; accepted 5 June 2003; published 11 July 2003.

Index Terms: 0933 Exploration Geophysics: Remote sensing; 1827 Hydrology: Glaciology (1863); 4556 Oceanography: Physical: Sea level variations; 9310 Information Related to Geographic Region: Antarctica.

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Citation: Joughin, I., E. Rignot, C. E. Rosanova, B. K. Lucchitta, and J. Bohlander (2003), Timing of Recent Accelerations of Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(13), 1706, doi:10.1029/2003GL017609.