Massive subsurface ice formed by refreezing of ice-shelf melt ponds.
Nat Commun
; 7: 11897, 2016 06 10.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27283778
ABSTRACT
Surface melt ponds form intermittently on several Antarctic ice shelves. Although implicated in ice-shelf break up, the consequences of such ponding for ice formation and ice-shelf structure have not been evaluated. Here we report the discovery of a massive subsurface ice layer, at least 16 km across, several kilometres long and tens of metres deep, located in an area of intense melting and intermittent ponding on Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica. We combine borehole optical televiewer logging and radar measurements with remote sensing and firn modelling to investigate the layer, found to be â¼10 °C warmer and â¼170 kg m(-3) denser than anticipated in the absence of ponding and hitherto used in models of ice-shelf fracture and flow. Surface ponding and ice layers such as the one we report are likely to form on a wider range of Antarctic ice shelves in response to climatic warming in forthcoming decades.
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MEDLINE
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En
Ano de publicação:
2016
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Article