Recent ice loss from the Fleming and other glaciers, Wordie Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula

Satellite radar interferometry data from 1995 to 2004, and airborne ice thickness data from 2002, reveal that the glaciers flowing into former Wordie Ice Shelf, West Antarctic Peninsula, discharge 6.8 ± 0.3 km3/yr of ice, which is 84 ± 30 percent larger than a snow accumulation of 3.7 ± 0.8 km3/yr over a 6,300 km2 drainage basin. Airborne and ICESat laser altimetry elevation data reveal glacier thinning at rates up to 2 m/yr. Fifty km from its ice front, Fleming Glacier flows 50 percent faster than it did in 1974 prior to the main collapse of Wordie Ice Shelf. We conclude that the glaciers accelerated following ice shelf removal, and have been thinning and losing mass to the ocean over the last decade. This and other observations suggest that the mass loss from the northern part of the Peninsula is not negligible at present.

[1]  A. Vieli,et al.  Recent dramatic thinning of largest West Antarctic ice stream triggered by oceans , 2004 .

[2]  Eric Rignot,et al.  Accelerated ice discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula following the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf , 2004 .

[3]  Pedro Skvarca,et al.  Variations of glacier frontal positions on the northern Antarctic Peninsula , 2004, Annals of Glaciology.

[4]  R. Bindschadler,et al.  Antarctic Peninsula climate variability : historical and paleoenvironmental perspectives , 2003 .

[5]  J. Turner,et al.  Spatial variability of Antarctic Peninsula net surface mass balance , 2002 .

[6]  Helmut Rott,et al.  Northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica: further retreat after collapse , 2002, Annals of Glaciology.

[7]  J. Gregory,et al.  Changes in sea‐level , 2002 .

[8]  R. Michel,et al.  Flow of Moreno Glaciar , Argentina , from repeat-pass Shuttle Imaging Radar images : Comparison of the phase correlation method with radar interferometry , 2000 .

[9]  T. Scambos,et al.  The link between climate warming and break-up of ice shelves in the Antarctic Peninsula , 2000, Journal of Glaciology.

[10]  Hongxing Liu,et al.  Development of an Antarctic digital elevation model by integrating cartographic and remotely sensed data: A geographic information system based approach , 1999 .

[11]  D. Fleming,et al.  From epidemiological synergy to public health policy and practice: the contribution of other sexually transmitted diseases to sexual transmission of HIV infection. , 1999, Sexually transmitted infections.

[12]  W. Rack,et al.  Climatic trend and the retreat and disintegration of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula: an overview , 1999 .

[13]  R. Michel,et al.  Flow of Glaciar Moreno, Argentina, from repeat-pass Shuttle Imaging Radar images: comparison of the phase correlation method with radar interferometry , 1999, Journal of Glaciology.

[14]  D. Vaughan,et al.  Recent atmospheric warming and retreat of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula , 1996, Nature.

[15]  E. Mosley‐Thompson,et al.  Geometry, motion and mass balance of Dyer Plateau, Antarctica , 1996, Journal of Glaciology.

[16]  D. Vaughan.  Implications of the break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf, Antarctica for sea level , 1993, Antarctic Science.

[17]  E. Morris,et al.  The response of large ice sheets to climatic change , 1992 .

[18]  D. Vaughan,et al.  Rapid disintegration of the Wordie Ice Shelf in response to atmospheric warming , 1991, Nature.

[19]  C. Doake.  Bottom sliding of a glacier measured from the surface , 1975, Nature.