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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 31, L18402, doi:10.1029/2004GL020670, 2004

Glacier acceleration and thinning after ice shelf collapse in the Larsen B embayment, Antarctica

T. A. Scambos

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

J. A. Bohlander

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

C. A. Shuman

Oceans and Ice Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

P. Skvarca

División Glaciología, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Ice velocities derived from five Landsat 7 images acquired between January 2000 and February 2003 show a two- to six-fold increase in centerline speed of four glaciers flowing into the now-collapsed section of the Larsen B Ice Shelf. Satellite laser altimetry from ICESat indicates the surface of Hektoria Glacier lowered by up to 38 ± 6 m in a six-month period beginning one year after the break-up in March 2002. Smaller elevation losses are observed for Crane and Jorum glaciers over a later 5-month period. Two glaciers south of the collapse area, Flask and Leppard, show little change in speed or elevation. Seasonal variations in speed preceding the large post-collapse velocity increases suggest that both summer melt percolation and changes in the stress field due to shelf removal play a major role in glacier dynamics.

Received 3 June 2004; accepted 26 August 2004; published 22 September 2004.

Index Terms: 1640 Global Change: Remote sensing; 1827 Hydrology: Glaciology (1863); 1863 Hydrology: Snow and ice (1827).

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Citation: Scambos, T. A., J. A. Bohlander, C. A. Shuman, and P. Skvarca (2004), Glacier acceleration and thinning after ice shelf collapse in the Larsen B embayment, Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L18402, doi:10.1029/2004GL020670.

Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.