Retreating Glacier Fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past Half-Century

The continued retreat of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula has been widely attributed to recent atmospheric warming, but there is little published work describing changes in glacier margin positions. We present trends in 244 marine glacier fronts on the peninsula and associated islands over the past 61 years. Of these glaciers, 87% have retreated and a clear boundary between mean advance and retreat has migrated progressively southward. The pattern is broadly compatible with retreat driven by atmospheric warming, but the rapidity of the migration suggests that this may not be the sole driver of glacier retreat in this region.

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

[2]  D. Vaughan,et al.  Devil in the Detail , 2001, Science.

[3]  M. A. Augustin,et al.  Microencapsulation of food ingredients , 2001 .

[4]  K. J. Lissant.  Emulsions and emulsion technology , 1975 .

[5]  C. Pudsey,et al.  First survey of Antarctic sub–ice shelf sediments reveals mid-Holocene ice shelf retreat , 2001 .

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

[7]  Baerbel K. Lucchitta,et al.  Coastal-change and glaciological maps of Antarctica , 1995 .

[8]  H. Rott,et al.  Rapid Collapse of Northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica , 1996, Science.

[9]  John Turner,et al.  Recent Rapid Regional Climate Warming on the Antarctic Peninsula , 2003 .

[10]  Thomas R. Scott,et al.  QUAD system offers fair shares to all authors , 2003, Nature.

[11]  Pedro Skvarca,et al.  Glacier Surge After Ice Shelf Collapse , 2003, Science.

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

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

[14]  B. Lucchitta,et al.  Retreat of northern margins of George VI and Wilkins Ice Shelves, Antarctic Peninsula , 1998, Annals of Glaciology.

[15]  M. Caffee,et al.  Holocene Deglaciation of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica , 2001, Science.

[16]  Helmut Rott,et al.  Evidence of recent climatic warming on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula , 1998, Annals of Glaciology.

[17]  A. Cooper.  Historical observations of Prince Gustav Ice Shelf , 1997, Polar Record.

[18]  Jacek Jania,et al.  The retreat of a tidewater glacier: observations and model calculations on Hansbreen, Spitsbergen , 2002, Journal of Glaciology.

[19]  E. Mosley‐Thompson,et al.  Late 20th Century increase in South Pole snow accumulation , 1999 .

[20]  P. Skvarca,et al.  Larsen Ice Shelf Has Progressively Thinned , 2003, Science.