Widespread seasonal speed-up of west Antarctic Peninsula glaciers from 2014 to 2021

Benjamin J. Wallis; Anna E. Hogg; J. Melchior van Wessem; Benjamin J. Davison; Michiel R. van den Broeke

doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01131-4

Widespread seasonal speed-up of west Antarctic Peninsula glaciers from 2014 to 2021

Benjamin J. Wallis^*
, Anna E. Hogg
, J. Melchior van Wessem
, Benjamin J. Davison
, Michiel R. van den Broeke

^*Corresponding author for this work

Leeds Beckett University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is dominated by ice dynamics, where ocean-driven melt leads to un-buttressing and ice flow acceleration. Long-term ice speed change has been measured in Antarctica over the past four decades; however, there are limited observations of short-term seasonal speed variability on the grounded ice sheet. Here we assess seasonal variations in ice flow speed on 105 glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula using Sentinel-1 satellite observations spanning 2014 to 2021. We find an average summer speed-up of 12.4 ± 4.2%, with maximum speed change of up to 22.3 ± 3.2% on glaciers with the most pronounced seasonality. Our results show that over the six-year study period, glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula respond to seasonal forcing in the ice–ocean–atmosphere system, indicating sensitivity to changes in terminus position, surface melt plus rainwater flux, and ocean temperature. Seasonal speed variations must be accounted for when measuring the mass balance and sea level contribution of the Antarctic Peninsula, and studies must establish the future evolution of this previously undocumented signal under climate warming scenarios.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	231-237
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Geoscience
Volume	16
Issue number	3
Early online date	Feb 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01131-4
Publication status	Published - Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was led by the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Data processing was undertaken on ARC3, part of the high-performance computing facilities at the University of Leeds, UK. The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Space Agency and the European Commission for the acquisition and availability of Sentinel-1 data and the use of datasets produced through the Copernicus Marine Service. We also acknowledge the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota for the availability of the REMA DEM and J. Lea of the University of Liverpool for the public availability of the GEEDiT and MaQiT digitization tools. B.J.W. is supported by the Panorama Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), under grant NE/S007458/1. A.E.H. and B.J.D. are supported by the NERC DeCAdeS project (NE/T012757/1) and ESA Polar+ Ice Shelves project (ESA-IPL-POE-EF-cb-LE-2019-834). M.R.v.d.B. was supported by the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC). J.M.v.W. was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) VENI grant VI.Veni.192.083.

Funding Information:
This work was led by the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Data processing was undertaken on ARC3, part of the high-performance computing facilities at the University of Leeds, UK. The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Space Agency and the European Commission for the acquisition and availability of Sentinel-1 data and the use of datasets produced through the Copernicus Marine Service. We also acknowledge the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota for the availability of the REMA DEM and J. Lea of the University of Liverpool for the public availability of the GEEDiT and MaQiT digitization tools. B.J.W. is supported by the Panorama Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), under grant NE/S007458/1. A.E.H. and B.J.D. are supported by the NERC DeCAdeS project (NE/T012757/1) and ESA Polar+ Ice Shelves project (ESA-IPL-POE-EF-cb-LE-2019-834). M.R.v.d.B. was supported by the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC). J.M.v.W. was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) VENI grant VI.Veni.192.083.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

Surface mass-balance
B ice shelf
Amundsen sea embayment
Climate-change
Larsen
Sheet
Flow
Retreat
Melt
Disintegration

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10.1038/s41561-023-01131-4

s41561-023-01131-4Final published version, 7.26 MBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

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title = "Widespread seasonal speed-up of west Antarctic Peninsula glaciers from 2014 to 2021",

abstract = "Mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is dominated by ice dynamics, where ocean-driven melt leads to un-buttressing and ice flow acceleration. Long-term ice speed change has been measured in Antarctica over the past four decades; however, there are limited observations of short-term seasonal speed variability on the grounded ice sheet. Here we assess seasonal variations in ice flow speed on 105 glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula using Sentinel-1 satellite observations spanning 2014 to 2021. We find an average summer speed-up of 12.4 ± 4.2\%, with maximum speed change of up to 22.3 ± 3.2\% on glaciers with the most pronounced seasonality. Our results show that over the six-year study period, glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula respond to seasonal forcing in the ice–ocean–atmosphere system, indicating sensitivity to changes in terminus position, surface melt plus rainwater flux, and ocean temperature. Seasonal speed variations must be accounted for when measuring the mass balance and sea level contribution of the Antarctic Peninsula, and studies must establish the future evolution of this previously undocumented signal under climate warming scenarios.",

keywords = "Surface mass-balance, B ice shelf, Amundsen sea embayment, Climate-change, Larsen, Sheet, Flow, Retreat, Melt, Disintegration",

author = "Wallis, \{Benjamin J.\} and Hogg, \{Anna E.\} and \{van Wessem\}, \{J. Melchior\} and Davison, \{Benjamin J.\} and \{van den Broeke\}, \{Michiel R.\}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was led by the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Data processing was undertaken on ARC3, part of the high-performance computing facilities at the University of Leeds, UK. The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Space Agency and the European Commission for the acquisition and availability of Sentinel-1 data and the use of datasets produced through the Copernicus Marine Service. We also acknowledge the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota for the availability of the REMA DEM and J. Lea of the University of Liverpool for the public availability of the GEEDiT and MaQiT digitization tools. B.J.W. is supported by the Panorama Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), under grant NE/S007458/1. A.E.H. and B.J.D. are supported by the NERC DeCAdeS project (NE/T012757/1) and ESA Polar+ Ice Shelves project (ESA-IPL-POE-EF-cb-LE-2019-834). M.R.v.d.B. was supported by the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC). J.M.v.W. was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) VENI grant VI.Veni.192.083. Funding Information: This work was led by the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Data processing was undertaken on ARC3, part of the high-performance computing facilities at the University of Leeds, UK. The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Space Agency and the European Commission for the acquisition and availability of Sentinel-1 data and the use of datasets produced through the Copernicus Marine Service. We also acknowledge the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota for the availability of the REMA DEM and J. Lea of the University of Liverpool for the public availability of the GEEDiT and MaQiT digitization tools. B.J.W. is supported by the Panorama Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), under grant NE/S007458/1. A.E.H. and B.J.D. are supported by the NERC DeCAdeS project (NE/T012757/1) and ESA Polar+ Ice Shelves project (ESA-IPL-POE-EF-cb-LE-2019-834). M.R.v.d.B. was supported by the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC). J.M.v.W. was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) VENI grant VI.Veni.192.083. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

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N2 - Mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is dominated by ice dynamics, where ocean-driven melt leads to un-buttressing and ice flow acceleration. Long-term ice speed change has been measured in Antarctica over the past four decades; however, there are limited observations of short-term seasonal speed variability on the grounded ice sheet. Here we assess seasonal variations in ice flow speed on 105 glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula using Sentinel-1 satellite observations spanning 2014 to 2021. We find an average summer speed-up of 12.4 ± 4.2%, with maximum speed change of up to 22.3 ± 3.2% on glaciers with the most pronounced seasonality. Our results show that over the six-year study period, glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula respond to seasonal forcing in the ice–ocean–atmosphere system, indicating sensitivity to changes in terminus position, surface melt plus rainwater flux, and ocean temperature. Seasonal speed variations must be accounted for when measuring the mass balance and sea level contribution of the Antarctic Peninsula, and studies must establish the future evolution of this previously undocumented signal under climate warming scenarios.

AB - Mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is dominated by ice dynamics, where ocean-driven melt leads to un-buttressing and ice flow acceleration. Long-term ice speed change has been measured in Antarctica over the past four decades; however, there are limited observations of short-term seasonal speed variability on the grounded ice sheet. Here we assess seasonal variations in ice flow speed on 105 glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula using Sentinel-1 satellite observations spanning 2014 to 2021. We find an average summer speed-up of 12.4 ± 4.2%, with maximum speed change of up to 22.3 ± 3.2% on glaciers with the most pronounced seasonality. Our results show that over the six-year study period, glaciers on the west Antarctic Peninsula respond to seasonal forcing in the ice–ocean–atmosphere system, indicating sensitivity to changes in terminus position, surface melt plus rainwater flux, and ocean temperature. Seasonal speed variations must be accounted for when measuring the mass balance and sea level contribution of the Antarctic Peninsula, and studies must establish the future evolution of this previously undocumented signal under climate warming scenarios.

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KW - B ice shelf

KW - Amundsen sea embayment

KW - Climate-change

KW - Larsen

KW - Sheet

KW - Flow

KW - Retreat

KW - Melt

KW - Disintegration

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JO - Nature Geoscience

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Widespread seasonal speed-up of west Antarctic Peninsula glaciers from 2014 to 2021

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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