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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Cryosphere: Ice sheets
  • Cryosphere: Ice streams
  • Cryosphere: Glaciology
  • Geographic Location: Antarctica

Abstract

Continued deceleration of Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica

I. Joughin

Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

R. A. Bindschadler

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

M. A. King

School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

D. Voigt

Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

R. B. Alley

Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

S. Anandakrishnan

Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

H. Horgan

Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

L. Peters

Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

P. Winberry

Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

S. B. Das

Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

G. Catania

Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

Earlier observations indicated that Whillans Ice Stream slowed from 1973 to 1997. We collected new GPS observations of the ice stream's speed in 2003 and 2004. These data show that the ice stream is continuing to decelerate at rates of about 0.6%/yr2, with faster rates near the grounding line. Our data also indicate that the deceleration extends over the full width of the ice plain. Extrapolation of the deceleration trend suggests the ice stream could stagnate sometime between the middle of the 21st and 22nd Centuries.

Received 5 August 2005; accepted 11 October 2005; published 17 November 2005.

Citation: Joughin, I., et al. (2005), Continued deceleration of Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L22501, doi:10.1029/2005GL024319.

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