Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East Antarctica
<p>The Totten Glacier in East Antarctica is of major climatic interest because of the large fluctuations in its grounding line and potential vulnerability to climate change. Here, we use a series of high-resolution, regional NEMO-LIM-based (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean coupled w...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2022-11-01
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| Series: | The Cryosphere |
| Online Access: | https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4745/2022/tc-16-4745-2022.pdf |
| _version_ | 1828292209805361152 |
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| author | G. Van Achter T. Fichefet H. Goosse E. Moreno-Chamarro |
| author_facet | G. Van Achter T. Fichefet H. Goosse E. Moreno-Chamarro |
| author_sort | G. Van Achter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>The Totten Glacier in East Antarctica is of major climatic interest because of the large fluctuations in its grounding line and potential vulnerability to climate change.
Here, we use a series of high-resolution, regional NEMO-LIM-based (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean coupled with the Louvain-la-Neuve sea ice model) experiments, which include an explicit treatment of ocean–ice shelf interactions, as well as a representation of grounded icebergs and fast ice, to investigate the changes in ocean–ice interactions in the Totten Glacier area between the recent past (1995–2014) and the end of the 21st century (2081–2100) under SSP4–4.5 climate change conditions.
By the end of the 21st century, the wide areas of multiyear fast ice simulated in the recent past are replaced by small patches of first year fast ice along the coast, which decreases the total summer sea ice extent. The Antarctic Slope Current is accelerated by about 116 %, which decreases the heat exchange across the shelf and tends to reduce the ice shelf basal melt rate, but this effect is counterbalanced by the effect of the oceanic warming. As a consequence, despite the accelerated Antarctic Slope Current, the Totten ice shelf melt rate is increased by 91 % due to the intrusion of warmer water into its cavity.
The representation of fast ice dampens the ice shelf melt rate increase throughout the 21st century, as the Totten ice shelf melt rate increase reaches 136 % when fast ice is not taken into account.
The Moscow University ice shelf melt rate increase is even more impacted by the representation of fast ice, with a 36 % melt rate increase with fast ice, compared to a 75 % increase without a fast ice representation.
This influence of the representation of fast ice in our simulations on the basal melting rate trend over the 21st century is explained by the large impact of the fast ice for present-day conditions (<span class="inline-formula">∼25</span> % difference in m yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>), while the impact decreases significantly at the end of the 21st century (<span class="inline-formula">∼4</span> % difference in m yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>). As a consequence, the reduction in the fast ice extent in the future induces a decrease in the fast ice effect on the ice shelf melt rate that partly compensates for the increase due to warming of the ocean.
This highlights the importance of including a representation of fast ice to simulate realistic ice shelf melt rate increase in East Antarctica under warming conditions.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T11:03:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f768376de539463bbf0924f2dd358995 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1994-0416 1994-0424 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T11:03:56Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Cryosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-f768376de539463bbf0924f2dd3589952022-12-22T02:49:19ZengCopernicus PublicationsThe Cryosphere1994-04161994-04242022-11-01164745476110.5194/tc-16-4745-2022Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East AntarcticaG. Van Achter0T. Fichefet1H. Goosse2E. Moreno-Chamarro3Georges Lemaitre Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, BelgiumGeorges Lemaitre Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, BelgiumGeorges Lemaitre Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, BelgiumBarcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, 08034, Spain<p>The Totten Glacier in East Antarctica is of major climatic interest because of the large fluctuations in its grounding line and potential vulnerability to climate change. Here, we use a series of high-resolution, regional NEMO-LIM-based (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean coupled with the Louvain-la-Neuve sea ice model) experiments, which include an explicit treatment of ocean–ice shelf interactions, as well as a representation of grounded icebergs and fast ice, to investigate the changes in ocean–ice interactions in the Totten Glacier area between the recent past (1995–2014) and the end of the 21st century (2081–2100) under SSP4–4.5 climate change conditions. By the end of the 21st century, the wide areas of multiyear fast ice simulated in the recent past are replaced by small patches of first year fast ice along the coast, which decreases the total summer sea ice extent. The Antarctic Slope Current is accelerated by about 116 %, which decreases the heat exchange across the shelf and tends to reduce the ice shelf basal melt rate, but this effect is counterbalanced by the effect of the oceanic warming. As a consequence, despite the accelerated Antarctic Slope Current, the Totten ice shelf melt rate is increased by 91 % due to the intrusion of warmer water into its cavity. The representation of fast ice dampens the ice shelf melt rate increase throughout the 21st century, as the Totten ice shelf melt rate increase reaches 136 % when fast ice is not taken into account. The Moscow University ice shelf melt rate increase is even more impacted by the representation of fast ice, with a 36 % melt rate increase with fast ice, compared to a 75 % increase without a fast ice representation. This influence of the representation of fast ice in our simulations on the basal melting rate trend over the 21st century is explained by the large impact of the fast ice for present-day conditions (<span class="inline-formula">∼25</span> % difference in m yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>), while the impact decreases significantly at the end of the 21st century (<span class="inline-formula">∼4</span> % difference in m yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>). As a consequence, the reduction in the fast ice extent in the future induces a decrease in the fast ice effect on the ice shelf melt rate that partly compensates for the increase due to warming of the ocean. This highlights the importance of including a representation of fast ice to simulate realistic ice shelf melt rate increase in East Antarctica under warming conditions.</p>https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4745/2022/tc-16-4745-2022.pdf |
| spellingShingle | G. Van Achter T. Fichefet H. Goosse E. Moreno-Chamarro Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East Antarctica The Cryosphere |
| title | Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East Antarctica |
| title_full | Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East Antarctica |
| title_fullStr | Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East Antarctica |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East Antarctica |
| title_short | Influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the Totten Glacier area, East Antarctica |
| title_sort | influence of fast ice on future ice shelf melting in the totten glacier area east antarctica |
| url | https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4745/2022/tc-16-4745-2022.pdf |
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