Milillo P, Rignot E, Rizzoli P, Scheuchl B, Mouginot J, Bueso-Bello J, Prats-Iraola P
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Sci Adv. 2019 Jan 30;5(1):eaau3433. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau3433. eCollection 2019 Jan.
The glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, have undergone acceleration and grounding line retreat over the past few decades that may yield an irreversible mass loss. Using a constellation of satellites, we detect the evolution of ice velocity, ice thinning, and grounding line retreat of Thwaites Glacier from 1992 to 2017. The results reveal a complex pattern of retreat and ice melt, with sectors retreating at 0.8 km/year and floating ice melting at 200 m/year, while others retreat at 0.3 km/year with ice melting 10 times slower. We interpret the results in terms of buoyancy/slope-driven seawater intrusion along preferential channels at tidal frequencies leading to more efficient melt in newly formed cavities. Such complexities in ice-ocean interaction are not currently represented in coupled ice sheet/ocean models.
流入南极洲西部阿蒙森海湾区的冰川在过去几十年里经历了加速和冰接地线退缩，这可能会导致不可逆转的质量损失。我们利用卫星群监测了1992年至2017年期间思韦茨冰川的冰速、冰层变薄和冰接地线退缩情况。结果显示出一种复杂的退缩和冰融化模式，部分区域以每年0.8公里的速度退缩，浮冰以每年200米的速度融化，而其他区域则以每年0.3公里的速度退缩，冰融化速度慢10倍。我们根据浮力/坡度驱动的海水沿潮汐频率的优先通道入侵来解释这些结果，这导致新形成的空洞中融化更有效。目前，冰盖/海洋耦合模型尚未体现这种冰 - 海洋相互作用的复杂性。
