ICESat's new perspective on ice shelf rifts: The vertical dimension

ICESat’s new perspective on ice shelf rifts: The vertical dimension

[1] The small footprint ( 70 m) and 172 m alongtrack spacing of the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) provides unprecedented horizontal resolution for a satellite altimeter. This enables ICESat to map many previously unresolved features on ice shelves, such as crevasses, rifts, grounding zones and ice fronts. We present examples of ...

Ice shelf changes on the Antarctic Peninsula

The Effects of Rotation and Ice Shelf Topography on Frazil-Laden Ice Shelf Water Plumes

A model of the dynamics and thermodynamics of a plume of meltwater at the base of an ice shelf is presented. Such ice shelf water plumes may become supercooled and deposit marine ice if they rise (because of the pressure decrease in the in situ freezing temperature), so the model incorporates both melting and freezing at the ice shelf base and a multiple-size-class model of frazil ice dynamics ...

Ice Shelf Water plume flow beneath FilchnerRonne Ice Shelf, Antarctica

[1] A two-dimensional plume model is used to study the interaction between FilchnerRonne Ice Shelf, Antarctica and its underlying ocean cavity. Ice Shelf Water (ISW) plumes are initiated by the freshwater released from a melting ice shelf and, if they rise, may become supercooled and deposit marine ice due to the pressure increase in the in situ freezing temperature. The aim of this modeling st...

A Case Study of a Ross Ice Shelf Airstream Event: A New Perspective*

A case study illustrating cloud processes and other features associated with the Ross Ice Shelf airstream (RAS), in Antarctica, is presented. The RAS is a semipermanent low-level wind regime primarily over the western Ross Ice Shelf, linked to the midlatitude circulation and formed from terrain-induced and large-scale forcing effects. An integrated approach utilizes Moderate Resolution Imaging ...