Lagrangian back-tracing results for Kohnen station; output of time dependent numerical experiment with a 3D nested Antarctic ice sheet model

A nested ice flow model was developed for eastern Dronning Maud Land to assist with the dating and interpretation of the EDML deep ice core. The model consists of a high-resolution higher-order ice dynamic flow model that was nested into a comprehensive 3-D thermomechanical model of the whole Antarctic ice sheet. As the drill site is on a flank position the calculations specifically take into account the effects of horizontal advection as deeper ice in the core originated from higher inland. First the regional velocity field and ice sheet geometry is obtained from a forward experiment over the last 8 glacial cycles. The result is subsequently employed in a Lagrangian backtracing algorithm to provide particle paths back to their time and place of deposition. The procedure directly yields the depth-age distribution, surface conditions at particle origin, and a suite of relevant parameters such as initial annual layer thickness. This paper discusses the method and the main results of the experiment, including the ice core chronology, the non-climatic corrections needed to extract the climatic part of the signal, and the thinning function. The focus is on the upper 89% of the ice core (appr. 170 kyears) as the dating below that is increasingly less robust owing to the unknown value of the geothermal heat flux. It is found that the temperature biases resulting from variations of surface elevation are up to half of the magnitude of the climatic changes themselves.

Measured ice surface velocities on the King George Island ice cap with DGPS

King George Island is located at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is influenced by maritime climate conditions. The observed mean annual air temperature at sea level is -2.4°C. Thus, the ice cap is regarded as sensitive to changing climatic conditions. Ground-penetrating radar surveys indicate a partly temperate ice cap with an extended water layer at the firn/ice transition of the up to 700 m high ice cap. Measured firn temperatures are close to 0°C at the higher elevations, and they differ considerably from the measured mean annual air temperature. The aim of this paper is to present ice-flow dynamics by means of observations and simulations of the flow velocities. During several field campaigns from 1997/98 to 2008/09, ice surface velocities were derived with repeated differential GPS measurements. Ice velocities vary from 0.7 m/a at the dome to 112.1 m/a along steep slopes. For the western part of the ice cap a three-dimensional diagnostic full-Stokes model was applied to calculate ice flow. Parameters of the numerical model were identified with respect to measured ice surface velocities. The simulations indicate cold ice at higher elevations, while temperate ice at lower elevations is consistent with the observations.

Accumulation, velocities, fluxes and mass balance of glacial tributaries to the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system, Antarctica

By incorporating recently available remote sensing data, we investigated the mass balance for all individual tributary glacial basins of the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica. On the basis of the ice flow information derived from SAR interferometry and ICESat laser altimetry, we have determined the spatial configuration of eight tributary drainage basins of the Lambert-Amery glacial system. By combining the coherence information from SAR interferometry and the texture information from SAR and MODIS images, we have interpreted and refined the grounding line position. We calculated ice volume flux of each tributary glacial basin based on the ice velocity field derived from Radarsat three-pass interferometry together with ice thickness data interpolated from Australian and Russian airborne radio echo sounding (RES) surveys and inferred from ICESat laser altimetry data. Our analysis reveals that three tributary basins have a significant net positive imbalance, while five other subbasins are slightly positive or close to zero balance. Overall, in contrast to previous studies, we find that the grounded ice in Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system has a positive mass imbalance of 22.9 ± 4.4 Gt/a. The net basal melting for the entire Amery Ice Shelf is estimated to be 27.0 ± 7.0 Gt/a. The melting rate decreases rapidly from the grounding zone to the ice shelf front. Significant basal refreezing is detected in the downstream section of the ice shelf. The mass balance estimates for both the grounded ice sheet and the ice shelf mass differ substantially from other recent estimates.

Data from the EPICA Dome C ice core EDC

The Antarctic Vostok ice core provided compelling evidence of the nature of climate, and of climate feedbacks, over the past 420,000 years. Marine records suggest that the amplitude of climate variability was smaller before that time, but such records are often poorly resolved. Moreover, it is not possible to infer the abundance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from marine records. Here we report the recovery of a deep ice core from Dome C, Antarctica, that provides a climate record for the past 740,000 years. For the four most recent glacial cycles, the data agree well with the record from Vostok. The earlier period, between 740,000 and 430,000 years ago, was characterized by less pronounced warmth in interglacial periods in Antarctica, but a higher proportion of each cycle was spent in the warm mode. The transition from glacial to interglacial conditions about 430,000 years ago (Termination V) resembles the transition into the present interglacial period in terms of the magnitude of change in temperatures and greenhouse gases, but there are significant differences in the patterns of change. The interglacial stage following Termination V was exceptionally long - 28,000 years compared to, for example, the 12,000 years recorded so far in the present interglacial period. Given the similarities between this earlier warm period and today, our results may imply that without human intervention, a climate similar to the present one would extend well into the future.

Site characteristics and ice speed at four sites on Kangiata Nunata Sermia glacier, southwest Greenland

We present subdaily ice flow measurements at four GPS sites between 36 and 72 km from the margin of a marine-terminating Greenland outlet glacier spanning the 2009 melt season. Our data show that >35 km from the margin, seasonal and shorter-time scale ice flow variations are controlled by surface melt-induced changes in subglacial hydrology. Following the onset of melting at each site, ice motion increased above background for up to 2 months with resultant up-glacier migration of both the onset and peak of acceleration. Later in our survey, ice flow at all sites decreased to below background. Multiple 1 to 15 day speedups increased ice motion by up to 40% above background. These events were typically accompanied by uplift and coincided with enhanced surface melt or lake drainage. Our results indicate that the subglacial drainage system evolved through the season with efficient drainage extending to at least 48 km inland during the melt season. While we can explain our observations with reference to evolution of the glacier drainage system, the net effect of the summer speed variations on annual motion is small (~1%). This, in part, is because the speedups are compensated for by slowdowns beneath background associated with the establishment of an efficient subglacial drainage system. In addition, the speedups are less pronounced in comparison to land-terminating systems. Our results reveal similarities between the inland ice flow response of Greenland marine- and land-terminating outlet glaciers.

Chemical concentrations and fluxes from EPICA ice cores EDML and EDC

Continuous sea salt and mineral dust aerosol records have been studied on the two EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) deep ice cores. The joint use of these records from opposite sides of the East Antarctic plateau allows for an estimate of changes in dust transport and emission intensity as well as for the identification of regional differences in the sea salt aerosol source. The mineral dust flux records at both sites show a strong coherency over the last 150 kyr related to dust emission changes in the glacial Patagonian dust source with three times higher dust fluxes in the Atlantic compared to the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean (SO). Using a simple conceptual transport model this indicates that transport can explain only 40% of the atmospheric dust concentration changes in Antarctica, while factor 5-10 changes occurred. Accordingly, the main cause for the strong glacial dust flux changes in Antarctica must lie in environmental changes in Patagonia. Dust emissions, hence environmental conditions in Patagonia, were very similar during the last two glacials and interglacials, respectively, despite 2-4 °C warmer temperatures recorded in Antarctica during the penultimate interglacial than today. 2-3 times higher sea salt fluxes found in both ice cores in the glacial compared to the Holocene are difficult to reconcile with a largely unchanged transport intensity and the distant open ocean source. The substantial glacial enhancements in sea salt aerosol fluxes can be readily explained assuming sea ice formation as the main sea salt aerosol source with a significantly larger expansion of (summer) sea ice in the Weddell Sea than in the Indian Ocean sector. During the penultimate interglacial, our sea salt records point to a 50% reduction of winter sea ice coverage compared to the Holocene both in the Indian and Atlantic Ocean sector of the SO. However, from 20 to 80 ka before present sea salt fluxes show only very subdued millennial changes despite pronounced temperature fluctuations, likely due to the large distance of the sea ice salt source to our drill sites.

Reconstructed ice-sheet limit in the Kara and Barents Sea area at about 50,000 years ago (Markhida Line)

Glacial landforms in northern Russia, from the Timan Ridge in the west to the east of the Urals, have been mapped by aerial photographs and satellite images supported by field observations. An east-west trending belt of fresh hummock-and-lake glaciokarst landscapes has been traced to the north of 67°N. The southern boundary of these landscapes is called the Markhida Line, which is interpreted as a nearly synchronous limit of the last ice sheet that affected this region. The hummocky landscapes are subdivided into three types according to the stage of postglacial modification: Markhida, Harbei and Halmer. The Halmer landscape on the Uralian piedmont in the east is the freshest, whereas the westernmost Markhida landscape is more eroded. The west- east gradient in morphology is considered to be a result of the time-transgressive melting of stagnant glacier ice and of the underlying permafrost. The pattern of ice-pushed ridges and other directional features reflects a dominant ice flow direction from the Kara Sea shelf. Traces of ice movement from the central Barents Sea are only discernible in the Pechora River left bank area west of 50°E. In the Polar Urals the horseshoe-shaped end moraines at altitudes of up to 560 m a.s.l. reflect ice movement up-valley from the Kara Ice Sheet, indicating the absence of a contemporaneous ice dome in the mountains. The Markhida moraines, superimposed onto the Eemian strata, represent the maximum ice sheet extent in the western part of the Pechora Basin during the Weichselian. The Markhida Line truncates the huge arcs of the Laya-Adzva and Rogovaya ice-pushed ridges protruding to the south. The latter moraines therefore reflect an older ice advance, probably also of Weichselian age. Still farther south, fluvially dissected morainic plateaus without lakes are of pre-Eemian age, because they plunge northwards under marine Eemian sediments. Shorelines of the large ice-dammed Lake Komi, identified between 90 and 110 m a.s.l. in the areas south of the Markhida Line, are radiocarbon dated to be older than 45 ka. The shorelines, incised into the Laya-Adzva moraines, morphologically interfinger with the Markhida moraines, indicating that the last ice advance onto the Russian mainland reached the Markhida Line during the Middle or Early Weichselian, before 45 ka ago.