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Variability of the oceanic environment and basal melting ofDotson Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, 2000 to 2016.

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Title
Variability of the oceanic environment and basal melting ofDotson Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, 2000 to 2016.
Authors
Shoosmith, Deb
Jenkins, Adrian
Dutrieux, Pierre
Jacobs, Stanley
Kim, Tae-Wan
Lee, SangHoon
Ha, Ho Kyung
Stammerjohn, Sharon
Keywords
Dotson Ice ShelfBasal melting
Issue Date
2016
Citation
Shoosmith, Deb, et al. 2016. Variability of the oceanic environment and basal melting ofDotson Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, 2000 to 2016.. Forum for Research into Ice Shelf Processes. Sweden. 2016.10.03.-06.
Abstract
The ocean plays a key role in the process of mass loss from ice sheets through iceberg calving and basal melting. In the eastern Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, the Amundsen Sea is a region where the ice shelves are rapidly thinning. The widespread, coherent nature of the thinning suggests oceanic forcing, which has now been well documented for Pine Island Glacier. Studies using satellite data have indicated that Dotson Ice Shelf was melting at a rate of 8 m per year and thinning by about 3 m per year during the 2003 - 2008 period. This study takes a slightly longer term perspective, exploiting oceanographic observations spanning over a decade and a half (2000 - 2016) that have been obtained at the Dotson Ice Front. A total of 8 hydrographic sections reveal variability in the oceanographic environment in front of the ice shelf and associated changes in meltwater production over time. We quantify the variability in circulation and net meltwater transport from beneath the ice shelf to produce estimates of the basal melt rate for this 17 year period. We find that changes in ocean heat content in front of the ice shelf drive high variability in melting on multi-annual to decadal time-scales.
Conference Name
Forum for Research into Ice Shelf Processes
Conference Place
Sweden
Conference Date
2016.10.03.-06
Type
Proceeding
Appears in Collections  
2014-2016, Physical and Bio-Geochemical Processes in the Amundsen Sea / Lee; Sang H. (PP15020; PP16020; PP14020)
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