Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf

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Read Full Article (file size: 457624 bytes) Cited by GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 31, L18401, doi:10.1029/2004GL020697, 2004 Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf E. Rignot Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA Centro de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile G. Casassa Centro de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile P. Gogineni Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA W. Krabill EG&G Services and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia, USA A. Rivera Centro de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile R. Thomas Centro de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile EG&G Services and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia, USA Abstract Interferometric synthetic-aperture radar data collected by ERS-1/2 and Radarsat-1 satellites show that Antarctic Peninsula glaciers sped up significantly following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf in 2002. Hektoria, Green and Evans glaciers accelerated eightfold between 2000 and 2003 and decelerated moderately in 2003. Jorum and Crane glaciers accelerated twofold in early 2003 and threefold by the end of 2003. In contrast, Flask and Leppard glaciers, further south, did not accelerate as they are still buttressed by an ice shelf. The mass loss associated with the flow acceleration exceeds 27 km³ per year, and ice is thinning at rates of tens of meters per year. We attribute this abrupt evolution of the glaciers to the removal of the buttressing ice shelf. The magnitude of the glacier changes illustrates the importance of ice shelves on ice sheet mass balance and contribution to sea level change. Received 7 June 2004; accepted 12 August 2004; published 22 September 2004. Index Terms: 1827 Hydrology: Glaciology (1863); 1863 Hydrology: Snow and ice (1827); 3349 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Polar meteorology; 6924 Radio Science: Interferometry; 9310 Information Related to Geographic Region: Antarctica. Read Full Article (file size: 457624 bytes) Cited by Citation: Rignot, E., G. Casassa, P. Gogineni, W. Krabill, A. Rivera, and R. Thomas (2004), Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L18401, doi:10.1029/2004GL020697. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.

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