Recent ice loss from the Fleming and other glaciers, Wordie Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula

	Become an AGU Member Subscribe to AGU Journals



Read Full Article (file size: 215845 bytes) Cited by GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 32, L07502, doi:10.1029/2004GL021947, 2005 Recent ice loss from the Fleming and other glaciers, Wordie Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula E. Rignot Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA G. Casassa Centro de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile S. Gogineni Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA P. Kanagaratnam Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA W. Krabill Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Wallops Flight Facility, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Island, Virginia, USA H. Pritchard British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK A. Rivera Centro de Estudios Cientificos, Valdivia, Chile R. Thomas Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Wallops Flight Facility, EG&G, Wallops Island, Virginia, USA J. Turner British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK D. Vaughan British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK Abstract Satellite radar interferometry data from 1995 to 2004, and airborne ice thickness data from 2002, reveal that the glaciers flowing into former Wordie Ice Shelf, West Antarctic Peninsula, discharge 6.8 ± 0.3 km³/yr of ice, which is 84 ± 30 percent larger than a snow accumulation of 3.7 ± 0.8 km³/yr over a 6,300 km² drainage basin. Airborne and ICESat laser altimetry elevation data reveal glacier thinning at rates up to 2 m/yr. Fifty km from its ice front, Fleming Glacier flows 50 percent faster than it did in 1974 prior to the main collapse of Wordie Ice Shelf. We conclude that the glaciers accelerated following ice shelf removal, and have been thinning and losing mass to the ocean over the last decade. This and other observations suggest that the mass loss from the northern part of the Peninsula is not negligible at present. Received 8 November 2004; accepted 3 March 2005; published 14 April 2005. Index Terms: 0728 Cryosphere: Ice shelves; 0762 Cryosphere: Mass balance (1218, 1223); 0776 Cryosphere: Glaciology (1621, 1827, 1863); 1621 Global Change: Cryospheric change (0776); 1641 Global Change: Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556). Read Full Article (file size: 215845 bytes) Cited by Citation: Rignot, E., G. Casassa, S. Gogineni, P. Kanagaratnam, W. Krabill, H. Pritchard, A. Rivera, R. Thomas, J. Turner, and D. Vaughan (2005), Recent ice loss from the Fleming and other glaciers, Wordie Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L07502, doi:10.1029/2004GL021947. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Abstract