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Evaluating the Retreat, Arrest, and Regrowth of Crane Glacier Against Marine Ice Cliff Process Models

Geophysical research letters, 2023-02, Vol.50 (4), p.n/a [Peer Reviewed Journal]

2023 The Authors. ;2023. This article is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;ISSN: 0094-8276 ;EISSN: 1944-8007 ;DOI: 10.1029/2022GL102400

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  • Title:
    Evaluating the Retreat, Arrest, and Regrowth of Crane Glacier Against Marine Ice Cliff Process Models
  • Author: Needell, C. ; Holschuh, N.
  • Subjects: Ablation ; altimetry ; Antarctic glaciers ; Cliffs ; Collapse ; Crane Glacier ; Feedback ; Floating ice ; Glaciation ; Glacier ice ; Glaciers ; Ice ; Ice calving ; ice cliff ; Ice formation ; Ice sheet models ; Ice sheets ; Ice shelves ; Land ice ; Larsen B Ice Shelf ; MICI ; Modelling ; Positive feedback ; Regrowth ; Remote sensing ; Sea level ; Sea level changes ; Sea level rise
  • Is Part Of: Geophysical research letters, 2023-02, Vol.50 (4), p.n/a
  • Description: The fastest projected rates of sea level rise appear in models which include “the marine ice cliff instability (MICI),” a hypothesized but mostly unobserved process defined by rapid fracture and wastage of terminal ice cliffs that outpaces viscous relaxation and ice‐shelf formation. Crane Glacier's response to the Larsen B Ice Shelf collapse has been invoked as evidence of MICI in the observational record. Using available remote sensing data, we analyze Crane's retreat, arrest, and regrowth over the last two decades. Much of Crane's terminus retreat occurred in floating, not grounded ice. Retreat accelerated by at least 54% during the 2 years following ice shelf collapse. This is inconsistent with contemporaneous regional forcing that promoted ice shelf growth during this period, but consistent with a geometrically controlled positive feedback. We infer a maximum possible cliff height of 111 m, which according to process models, could enable cliff calving assuming damaged ice. Plain Language Summary The behavior of Antarctic glaciers will largely determine the pace and magnitude of future sea level rise. But the projections made by ice sheet models are uncertain, in part due to the uncertain response of Antarctica to the future loss of its floating ice shelves. It has been hypothesized that ice shelf breakup could trigger a self‐sustaining mechanism of ice loss whereby ice cliffs collapse under their own weight. This idea is controversial because it has not been unambiguously observed in modern glacier systems. We show that after the loss of its ice shelf, Crane Glacier experienced a 2‐year period of accelerating ice loss. While not an unambiguous validation of the instability hypothesis, what we do observe is consistent with a positive feedback and unforced retreat. Models of ice cliff failure that assume glacier ice has pre‐existing weaknesses are consistent with the behavior we observe at Crane, suggesting that if ice was sufficiently damaged at the Crane terminus, retreat by cliff failure was theoretically possible. Key Points Retreat of Crane Glacier's terminus after the collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf accelerated between November 2002 and 2004 6.74 km of the 10.30 km retreat occurred in floating ice, with ice cliff failure possible during retreat assuming damaged ice Crane's retreat into a narrow fjord and sea‐ice growth re‐established buttressing stresses, slowed calving, and reversed terminus retreat
  • Publisher: Washington: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0094-8276
    EISSN: 1944-8007
    DOI: 10.1029/2022GL102400
  • Source: Wiley Blackwell AGU Digital Library
    Directory of Open Access Journals
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