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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Cryosphere: Glaciers
  • Cryosphere: Ice sheets
  • Global Change: Cryospheric change
  • Hydrology: Geomorphology: general
  • Geographic Location: Antarctica

Abstract

New boundary conditions for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Subglacial topography of the Thwaites and Smith glacier catchments

John W. Holt

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

Donald D. Blankenship

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

David L. Morse

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

Duncan A. Young

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

Matthew E. Peters

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

Scott D. Kempf

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

Thomas G. Richter

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

David G. Vaughan

British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK

Hugh F. J. Corr

British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK

Airborne radar sounding over the Thwaites Glacier (TG) catchment and its surroundings provides the first comprehensive view of subglacial topography in this dynamic part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and reveals that TG is underlain by a single, broad basin fed by a dendritic pattern of valleys, while Smith Glacier lies within an extremely deep, narrow trench. Subglacial topography in the TG catchment slopes inland from a broad, low-relief coastal sill to the thickest ice of the WAIS and makes deep connections to both Pine Island Glacier and the Ross Sea Embayment enabling dynamic interactions across the WAIS during deglaciation. Simple isostatic rebound modeling shows that most of this landscape would be submarine after deglaciation, aside from an island chain near the present-day Ross-Amundsen ice divide. The lack of topographic confinement along TG's eastern margin implies that it may continue to widen in response to grounding line retreat.

Received 21 December 2005; accepted 10 March 2006; published 3 May 2006.

Citation: Holt, J. W., D. D. Blankenship, D. L. Morse, D. A. Young, M. E. Peters, S. D. Kempf, T. G. Richter, D. G. Vaughan, and H. F. J. Corr (2006), New boundary conditions for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Subglacial topography of the Thwaites and Smith glacier catchments, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L09502, doi:10.1029/2005GL025561.

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