Publication
Antarctic ice shelf open ocean corridors with large swell available
Publisher:
Copernicus GmbH
Date:
27-03-2022
DOI:
10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU22-3373
Abstract: & & Over the last three decades there have been two catastrophic disintegrations events on the Antarctic peninsula, the Larsen A ice shelf in 1995 and the Larsen B in 2002, alongside the Wilkins ice shelf which underwent multiple partial disintegrations between 1998& #8212 .& Previous research into these events indicated that there had been prolonged periods where the Larsen and Wilkins Ice Shelves were without a sea-ice buffer to protect them from ocean swell in the leadup to their respective disintegrations. Swell potentially acted as a trigger mechanism to each shelf to disintegrated, as they had already been destabilised by surface flooding, fracturing, thinning and other glaciological factors.& & & & This study will focus on the algorithm we developed which calculates the time where an ice shelf is without a local sea ice buffer (& #8220 exposure& #8221 ), the size of the ocean which could directly propagate waves into the shelf (& #8220 corridor& #8221 ) and the maximum wave height of swell which is directed towards the shelf in the corridor. An analysis of the last forty-one years showed that there was a large variation over in idual ice shelves for both exposure and the available swell, due to the impact of polynyas, ice tongues and fast-ice growth which can protect the ice shelf. On a regional scale, the East Antarctic Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Shelf had opposing trends, with the West Antarctic Ice Shelf recording a weak increasing trend of exposure and available swell.& &