Title Recent thinning and migration of the Western Divide, central West Antarctica
Author Conway, H.; Rasmussen, L.A.
Author Affil Conway, H., University of Washington, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Seattle, WA
Source Geophysical Research Letters, 36(12), Citation L12502. Publisher: American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, United States. ISSN: 0094-8276
Publication Date 2009
Notes In English. 17 refs. GeoRef Acc. No: 301244. CRREL Acc. No: 64005568
Index Terms glacial geology; glaciers; ice; glacier flow; thickness; time factor; Antarctica--Amundsen Sea; Southern Ocean-- Ross Sea; Antarctica--West Antarctic ice sheet; Antarctica--West Antarctica; Amundsen Sea; Antarctic ice sheet; Antarctica; Cenozoic; factors; Holocene; ice cores; ice movement; Quaternary; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean; symmetry; upper Holocene; West Antarctic ice sheet; West Antarctica; Western Divide
Abstract We report observations that show the Western Divide, between the Ross and Amundsen Sea sectors in West Antarctica, is currently thinning ~0.08 m a-1 and migrating toward the Ross Sea at 10 m a-1. The asymmetric pattern of thickness change across the divide is not caused by changes in the accumulation gradient, but rather by dynamical thinning that is stronger in the Amundsen Sea sector than in the Ross Sea sector. Available geological and glaciological data indicate that this pattern of thinning has persisted for at least two millennia, with increased asymmetry likely over the past few centuries. Our data however, are not sufficient to determine whether the present-day migration of the Western Divide is a response to long- term (millennial) forcing, shorter-term (centennial) forcing, or both.
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10.1029/2009GL038072
Publication Type journal article
Record ID 88875