DOCSLIB.ORG

Insights Into Spatial Sensitivities of Ice Mass Response to Environmental Change from the Searise Ice Sheet Modeling Project I : Antarctica

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Insights Into Spatial Sensitivities of Ice Mass Response to Environmental Change from the Searise Ice Sheet Modeling Project I : Antarctica University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Computer Science Faculty Publications Computer Science 6-12-2013 Insights Into Spatial Sensitivities of Ice Mass Response to Environmental Change from the SeaRISE Ice Sheet Modeling Project I : Antarctica Sophie Nowicki NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland Robert A. Bindschadler NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, [email protected] Ayako Abe-Ouchi University of Tokyo - Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan Andy Aschwanden University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska EFollowd Bueler this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cs_pubs University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska Part of the Computer Sciences Commons LetSee next us page know for additional how authors access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Nowicki, Sophie; Bindschadler, Robert A.; Abe-Ouchi, Ayako; Aschwanden, Andy; Bueler, Ed; Choi, Hyeungu; Fastook, Jim; Granzow, Glen; Greve, Ralf; Gutowski, Gail; Herzfeld, Ute; Jackson, Charles; Johnson, Jesse; Khroulev, Constantine; Larour, Eric; Levermann, Anders; Lipscomb, William; Martin, Maria A.; Morlighem, Mathieu; Parizek, Byron R.; Pollard, David; Price, Stephen F.; Ren, Diandong; Rignot, Eric; Saito, Fuyuki; Sato, Tatsuru; Seddik, Hakime; Seroussi, Helene; Takahashi, Kunio; Walker, Ryan; and Wang, Wei Li, "Insights Into Spatial Sensitivities of Ice Mass Response to Environmental Change from the SeaRISE Ice Sheet Modeling Project I : Antarctica" (2013). Computer Science Faculty Publications. 21. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cs_pubs/21 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Computer Science at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Computer Science Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Sophie Nowicki, Robert A. Bindschadler, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Andy Aschwanden, Ed Bueler, Hyeungu Choi, Jim Fastook, Glen Granzow, Ralf Greve, Gail Gutowski, Ute Herzfeld, Charles Jackson, Jesse Johnson, Constantine Khroulev, Eric Larour, Anders Levermann, William Lipscomb, Maria A. Martin, Mathieu Morlighem, Byron R. Parizek, David Pollard, Stephen F. Price, Diandong Ren, Eric Rignot, Fuyuki Saito, Tatsuru Sato, Hakime Seddik, Helene Seroussi, Kunio Takahashi, Ryan Walker, and Wei Li Wang This article is available at ScholarWorks at University of Montana: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cs_pubs/21 JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: EARTH SURFACE, VOL. 118, 1002–1024, doi:10.1002/jgrf.20081, 2013 Insights into spatial sensitivities of ice mass response to environmental change from the SeaRISE ice sheet modeling project I: Antarctica Sophie Nowicki,1 Robert A. Bindschadler,1 Ayako Abe-Ouchi,2 Andy Aschwanden,3 Ed Bueler,3 Hyeungu Choi,4 Jim Fastook,5 Glen Granzow,6 Ralf Greve,7 Gail Gutowski,8 Ute Herzfeld,9 Charles Jackson,8 Jesse Johnson,6 Constantine Khroulev,3 Eric Larour,10 Anders Levermann,11 William H. Lipscomb,12 Maria A. Martin,11 Mathieu Morlighem,13 Byron R. Parizek,14 David Pollard,15 Stephen F. Price,12 Diandong Ren,16 Eric Rignot,10,13 Fuyuki Saito,17 Tatsuru Sato,7 Hakime Seddik,7 Helene Seroussi,10 Kunio Takahashi,17 Ryan Walker,1,18 and Wei Li Wang1 Received 28 July 2012; revised 12 April 2013; accepted 23 April 2013; published 12 June 2013. [1] Atmospheric, oceanic, and subglacial forcing scenarios from the Sea-level Response to Ice Sheet Evolution (SeaRISE) project are applied to six three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet models to assess Antarctic ice sheet sensitivity over a 500 year timescale and to inform future modeling and field studies. Results indicate (i) growth with warming, except within low-latitude basins (where inland thickening is outpaced by marginal thinning); (ii) mass loss with enhanced sliding (with basins dominated by high driving stresses affected more than basins with low-surface-slope streaming ice); and (iii) mass loss with enhanced ice shelf melting (with changes in West Antarctica dominating the signal due to its marine setting and extensive ice shelves; cf. minimal impact in the Terre Adelie, George V, Oates, and Victoria Land region of East Antarctica). Ice loss due to dynamic changes associated with enhanced sliding and/or sub-shelf melting exceeds the gain due to increased precipitation. Furthermore, differences in results between and within basins as well as the controlling impact of sub-shelf melting on ice dynamics highlight the need for improved understanding of basal conditions, grounding-zone processes, ocean-ice interactions, and the numerical representation of all three. Citation: Nowicki, S., et al. (2013), Insights into spatial sensitivities of ice mass response to environmental change from the SeaRISE ice sheet modeling project I: Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 118, 1002–1024, doi:10.1002/jgrf.20081. 1. Introduction 2007] if all its ice were to melt. Over the past decades, rapid and dramatic changes have been observed in Antarctica: [2] Antarctica contains 70% of the world’s fresh water, spectacular collapses of several ice shelves in the Antarctic which represents a potential 56.6 m of sea level rise [IPCC, Peninsula [Scambos et al., 2004, 2009] and the acceleration Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of 9Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and this article. Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University This article is a companion to Nowicki et al. [2013] doi:10.1002/jgrf.20076. of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA. 1Code 615, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. 10Jet Propulsion Laboratory—California Institute of Technology, 2 Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Pasadena, California, USA. Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan. 11Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, Potsdam, Germany. 3 Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Arkansas, USA. 12Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. 4Sigma Space Corporation, Lanham, Maryland, USA. 13Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, 5 Computer Science/Quaternary Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Irvine, California, USA. Maine, USA. 14Mathematics and Geoscience, Penn State DuBois, College Place, 6 College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, DuBois, Pennsylvania, USA. Montana, USA. 15Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State 7 Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA. 8 Institute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 16Department of Physics, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Texas, USA. Australia. 17 Corresponding author: S. Nowicki, Code 615, NASA Goddard Space Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Research Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. ([email protected]) Institute for Global Change, 3173-25 Showamachi, Kanazawa, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. 18Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of 2169-9003/13/10.1002/jgrf.20081 Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. 1002 NOWICKI ET AL.: SEARISE ANTARCTICA of massive outlet glaciers such as Pine Island Glacier in the hand, the weakness of such an approach lies in the difficulty Amundsen Sea Embayment [Rignot, 2008]. Seven out of of evaluating the absolute accuracy of each of the models 12 ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula have significantly involved and therefore of their aggregate ensemble retreated or been almost entirely lost, and 87% of the 244 projection. marine glacier fronts have retreated during the past 60 years [5] SeaRISE’s strategy, as described in Bindschadler et al. [Cook et al., 2005]. These observed changes, thought to have [2013], is to therefore employ multiple models of ice been triggered by ocean warming and atmospheric changes sheet flow initialized by a common dataset to mitigate [Shepherd et al., 2004; Payne et al., 2004; Pritchard et al., model-to-model differences and forced externally by a set 2012], suggest that this ice sheet is far more vulnerable to of common climate scenarios. The data sets for the climate change than initially anticipated by the Fourth Antarctic ice sheet are available at http://websvr.cs.umt.edu/ Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on isis/index.php/Data and presented in Bindschadler et al. Climate Change (IPCC AR4) [IPCC, 2007]. The IPCC [2013]. This data include, for example, accumulation from AR4 sea level rise projections for the year 2100, which observation [Vaughan et al., 1999; Arthern et al., 2006] or ranged from 0.18 to 0.58 m, were acknowledged to be con- climate models [van de Berg et al., 2006], two basal heat servative, as these values excluded “future dynamical fluxes [Shapiro and Ritzwoller, 2004; FoxMauleetal., changes in ice sheet flow,” because no ice sheet model could 2005], along with surface elevation, basal topography, and reproduce the recently observed changes occurring on the ice thickness from ALBMAP v1 [Le Brocq et al., 2010]. Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. As a primary goal was to involve as many ice sheet models [3] The IPCC AR4 conclusions triggered a number of as possible, the experiments were designed to be simple workshops to discuss improvements in the capability of enough so that any model that was willing to contribute to existing ice
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Species Status Assessment Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes Fosteri)
    SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT EMPEROR PENGUIN (APTENODYTES FOSTERI) Emperor penguin chicks being socialized by male parents at Auster Rookery, 2008. Photo Credit: Gary Miller, Australian Antarctic Program. Version 1.0 December 2020 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services Program Branch of Delisting and Foreign Species Falls Church, Virginia Acknowledgements: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Penguins are flightless birds that are highly adapted for the marine environment. The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species. Emperors are near the top of the Southern Ocean’s food chain and primarily consume Antarctic silverfish, Antarctic krill, and squid. They are excellent swimmers and can dive to great depths. The average life span of emperor penguin in the wild is 15 to 20 years. Emperor penguins currently breed at 61 colonies located around Antarctica, with the largest colonies in the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea. The total population size is estimated at approximately 270,000–280,000 breeding pairs or 625,000–650,000 total birds. Emperor penguin depends upon stable fast ice throughout their 8–9 month breeding season to complete the rearing of its single chick. They are the only warm-blooded Antarctic species that breeds during the austral winter and therefore uniquely adapted to its environment. Breeding colonies mainly occur on fast ice, close to the coast or closely offshore, and amongst closely packed grounded icebergs that prevent ice breaking out during the breeding season and provide shelter from the wind. Sea ice extent in the Southern Ocean has undergone considerable inter-annual variability over the last 40 years, although with much greater inter-annual variability in the five sectors than for the Southern Ocean as a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • Antarctica: Music, Sounds and Cultural Connections
    Antarctica Music, sounds and cultural connections Antarctica Music, sounds and cultural connections Edited by Bernadette Hince, Rupert Summerson and Arnan Wiesel Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Antarctica - music, sounds and cultural connections / edited by Bernadette Hince, Rupert Summerson, Arnan Wiesel. ISBN: 9781925022285 (paperback) 9781925022292 (ebook) Subjects: Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)--Centennial celebrations, etc. Music festivals--Australian Capital Territory--Canberra. Antarctica--Discovery and exploration--Australian--Congresses. Antarctica--Songs and music--Congresses. Other Creators/Contributors: Hince, B. (Bernadette), editor. Summerson, Rupert, editor. Wiesel, Arnan, editor. Australian National University School of Music. Antarctica - music, sounds and cultural connections (2011 : Australian National University). Dewey Number: 780.789471 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Cover photo: Moonrise over Fram Bank, Antarctica. Photographer: Steve Nicol © Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2015 ANU Press Contents Preface: Music and Antarctica . ix Arnan Wiesel Introduction: Listening to Antarctica . 1 Tom Griffiths Mawson’s musings and Morse code: Antarctic silence at the end of the ‘Heroic Era’, and how it was lost . 15 Mark Pharaoh Thulia: a Tale of the Antarctic (1843): The earliest Antarctic poem and its musical setting . 23 Elizabeth Truswell Nankyoku no kyoku: The cultural life of the Shirase Antarctic Expedition 1910–12 .
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses The patterns and drivers of recent outlet glacier change in East Antarctica MILES, ALBERT,WILLIAM,JOHN How to cite: MILES, ALBERT,WILLIAM,JOHN (2017) The patterns and drivers of recent outlet glacier change in East Antarctica, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12426/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Abstract West Antarctica and Greenland have made substantial contributions to global sea level rise over the past two decades. In contrast, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) has largely been in balance or slightly gaining mass over the past two decades. This is consistent with the long-standing view that the EAIS is relatively immune to global warming. However, several recent reports have highlighted instabilities in the EAIS in the past, and some numerical models now predict near-future sea level contributions from the ice sheet, albeit with large uncertainties surrounding the rates of mass loss.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Antarctic Program Aviation Operations 2020-2025
    ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT – AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC PROGRAM AVIATION OPERATIONS 2020-2025 This document should be cited as: Commonwealth of Australia (2020). Environmental Impact Assessment – Australian Antarctic Program Aviation Operations 2020-2025. Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston. © Commonwealth of Australia 2020 This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to. Disclaimer The contents of this document have been compiled using a range of source materials and were valid as at the time of its preparation. The Australian Government is not liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of or reliance on the contents of the document. Cover photos from L to R: groomed runway surface, Globemaster C17 at Wilkins Aerodrome, fuel drum stockpile at Davis, Airbus landing at Wilkins Aerodrome Prepared by: Dr Sandra Potter on behalf of: Charlton Clark General Manager Operations and Safety Australian Antarctic Division Kingston 7050 Australia 2 Contents Overview 7 1. Background 9 1.1 Australian Antarctic Program aviation 9 1.2 Previous assessments of aviation activities 10 1.3 Scope of this environmental impact assessment 11 1.4 Consultation 13 2. Details of the proposed activity and its need 14 2.1 Introduction 14 2.2 Inter-continental flights 14 2.3 Air-drop operations 15 2.4 Air-to-air refuelling operations 15 2.5 Operation of Wilkins Aerodrome 16 2.6 Intra-continental fixed-wing operations 18 2.7 Operation of ski landing areas 19 2.8 Helicopter operations 20 2.9 Fuel storage and use 20 2.10 Aviation activities at other sites 21 2.11 Unmanned aerial systems 22 2.12 Facility decommissioning 22 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Distribution and Seasonal Evolution of Supraglacial Lakes on Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica
    https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-101 Preprint. Discussion started: 30 April 2020 c Author(s) 2020. CC BY 4.0 License. Distribution and seasonal evolution of supraglacial lakes on Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica Jenifer F. Arthur 1, Chris R. Stokes 1, Stewart S.R. Jamieson 1, J. Rachel Carr 2, Amber A. Leeson 3 5 1Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK 2School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK 3Lancaster Environment Centre/Data Science Institute, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK Correspondence to: Jennifer F. Arthur ([email protected]) Abstract. Supraglacial lakes (SGLs) enhance surface melting and can flex and fracture ice shelves when they grow and 10 subsequently drain, potentially leading to ice shelf disintegration. However, the seasonal evolution of SGLs and their influence on ice shelf stability in East Antarctica remains poorly understood, despite some potentially vulnerable ice shelves having high densities of SGLs. Using optical satellite imagery, air temperature data from climate reanalysis products and surface melt predicted by a regional climate model, we present the first long-term record (2000-2020) of seasonal SGL evolution on Shackleton Ice Shelf, which is Antarctica’s northernmost remaining ice shelf and buttresses Denman Glacier, a major outlet 15 of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. In a typical melt season, we find hundreds of SGLs with a mean area of 0.02 km2, a mean depth of 0.96 m, and a mean total meltwater volume of 7.45 x106 m3. At their most extensive, SGLs cover a cumulative area of 50.7 km2 and are clustered near to the grounding line, where densities approach 0.27 km2 per km2.
    [Show full text]
  • Influence of Dispersal Processes on the Global Dynamics of Emperor
    Appendices: Influence of dispersal processes on the global dynamics of Emperor penguin, a species threatened by climate change. Contents A Information about the known colonies of the emperor penguin in Antarctica. 2 B Description of the metapopulation model 5 B.1 Construction of the reproduction matrix F .......................5 B.2 The dispersal model . .9 C Global sensitivity analysis 13 D Baby models 15 D.1 Case 1 and 2: dispersion to the good patch is not always optimal . 15 D.1.1 Description of local and global dynamics . 15 D.1.2 Close to the equilibrium: analytical results. 16 D.1.3 Far away from the equilibrium: numerical results. 18 D.2 Case 3: Random dispersion between poor quality habitats . 20 D.3 Implications of theoretical results for the emperor penguin . 21 E Local and regional population dynamics 23 E.1 Population size of each colony . 23 E.2 Regional population size . 26 F Isolating the colonies on the Ross Sea 31 G Random departure and random search dispersal 34 1 A Information about the known colonies of the emperor penguin in Antarctica. Table 1: Information about the known colonies of the emperor penguin in Antarctica, modified from Fretwell et al. (2012) { see the figure A.1 for a spatial repartition of the known colonies in Antarctica. # is the index of the colony used in our figures; BE is the best estimate of the observed number of breeding pairs in 2009 used in our model simulations. # name longitude latitude BE 2009 1 Snowhill -57.44 -64.52 2164 2 Dolleman -60.43 -70.61 1620 3 Smith -60.83 -74.37 4018 4 Gould -47.68
    [Show full text]
  • Investigation of Coastal Dynamics of the Antarctic Ice
    INVESTIGATION OF COASTAL DYNAMICS OF THE ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET USING SEQUENTIAL RADARSAT SAR IMAGES A Thesis by SHENG-JUNG TANG Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE May 2007 Major Subject: Geography INVESTIGATION OF COASTAL DYNAMICS OF THE ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET USING SEQUENTIAL RADARSAT SAR IMAGES A Thesis by SHENG-JUNG TANG Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Approved by: Chair of Committee, Hongxing Liu Committee Members, Andrew G. Klein John R. Giardino Head of Department, Douglas J. Sherman May 2007 Major Subject: Geography iii ABSTRACT Investigation of Coastal Dynamics of the Antarctic Ice Sheet Using Sequential Radarsat SAR Images. (May 2007) Sheng-Jung Tang, B.Eng., National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Hongxing Liu Increasing human activities have brought about a global warming trend, and cause global sea level rise. Investigations of variations in coastal margins of Antarctica and in the glacial dynamics of the Antarctic Ice Sheet provide useful diagnostic information for understanding and predicting sea level changes. This research investigates the coastal dynamics of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in terms of changes in the coastal margin and ice flow velocities. The primary methods used in this research include image segmentation based coastline extraction and image matching based velocity derivation. The image segmentation based coastline extraction method uses a modified adaptive thresholding algorithm to derive a high-resolution, complete coastline of Antarctica from 2000 orthorectified SAR images at the continental scale.
    [Show full text]
  • Distribution and Seasonal Evolution of Supraglacial Lakes on Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica
    The Cryosphere, 14, 4103–4120, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4103-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Distribution and seasonal evolution of supraglacial lakes on Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica Jennifer F. Arthur1, Chris R. Stokes1, Stewart S. R. Jamieson1, J. Rachel Carr2, and Amber A. Leeson3 1Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK 2School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK 3Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK Correspondence: Jennifer F. Arthur ([email protected]) Received: 17 April 2020 – Discussion started: 30 April 2020 Revised: 20 August 2020 – Accepted: 23 September 2020 – Published: 18 November 2020 Abstract. Supraglacial lakes (SGLs) enhance surface melt- boundary conditions of supraglacial hydrology models and ing and can flex and fracture ice shelves when they grow numerical simulations of ice shelf stability. and subsequently drain, potentially leading to ice shelf dis- integration. However, the seasonal evolution of SGLs and their influence on ice shelf stability in East Antarctica re- mains poorly understood, despite some potentially vulnera- 1 Introduction ble ice shelves having high densities of SGLs. Using optical satellite imagery, air temperature data from climate reanaly- Supraglacial lakes (SGLs) are widespread around the mar- sis products and surface melt predicted by a regional climate gins of Antarctica and can influence ice shelf dynamics both model, we present the first long-term record (2000–2020) of directly and indirectly (Arthur et al., 2020a; Kingslake et seasonal SGL evolution on Shackleton Ice Shelf, which is al., 2017; Stokes et al., 2019).
    [Show full text]
  • 31 August 1988 Mr Jim Keenan Department of Science
    " 31 August 1988 L21/8720L01 52l Brunswick Street Mr Jim Keenan Fortitude Valley Department of Science: Antarctic Division Post Office Box 431 Antarctic Policy and Transport Studies Branch Fortitude Valley. Q. 4006 PO Box 65 Australia BELCONNEN ACT 2616 Telephone (07) 3584744 Dear Jim MAWSON'S HUTS We now enclose final copies of our report on the significance of Mawson1s Hu ts. One copy is bound and the other unbound for further photocopying should you require additional copies. L RICHARD ALLOM Director Allam Lovell Marquis-Kyle Pty Ltd Consultant: trading as Allam Lovell & Associates Pty Ltd Allam Lovell Marquis-Kyle Melbourne (03) 654 8910 Mawson's Huts Antarctica Statement of Significance CONTENTS i 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 MAWSON'S HUTS 1 1.2 THIS DOCUMENT 1 1.3 COMPLETENESS OF THE EVIDENCE 2 1.4 SYNOPSIS 3 1.5 THE STUDY TEAM 3 1.6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 2 DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE 5 2.1 SUMMARY 5 2.2 POLAR REGIONS 5 2.2.1 The Arctic Region 5 2.2.2 Antarctica 7 2.2.3 Antarctica's Physical Geography 8 2.3 NORTH POLAR EXPLORATION 10 2.4 SOUTH POLAR EXPLORATION 11 2.4.1 The Pre-Wintering Period of South Polar Exploration 11 2.5 THE HEROIC PERIOD 12 2.5.1 Early Expeditions 13 2.5.2 Three Simultaneous Expeditions 1901-1903 13 2.5.3 Bruce's Expedition 1902-1904 14 2.5.4 Charcot's Expeditions 1904-1905 &. 1909-1910 14 2.5.5 Shackleton's Expedition 1909-1910 15 2.5.6 Scott's and Amundsen's Expeditions 1909-1911 16 Other Minor Expeditions 1911-1914 EARLY AUSTRALIAN INVOLVEMENT IN EXPLORATION 16 2.7 THE AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1911- 1914 17 2.7.1
    [Show full text]
  • Four Decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet Mass Balance from 1979–2017
    Four decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance from INAUGURAL ARTICLE 1979–2017 Eric Rignota,b,1,Jer´ emie´ Mouginota,c, Bernd Scheuchla, Michiel van den Broeked, Melchior J. van Wessemd, and Mathieu Morlighema aDepartment of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697; bJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109; cInstitut des Geosciences de l’Environment, Universite Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, 38058 Grenoble, France; and dInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected in 2018. Contributed by Eric Rignot, December 4, 2018 (sent for review July 30, 2018; reviewed by Richard R. Forster and Leigh A. Stearns) We use updated drainage inventory, ice thickness, and ice veloc- ments for the time periods 1992–2011 and 1992–2017, except for ity data to calculate the grounding line ice discharge of 176 basins East Antarctica, where uncertainties remain. draining the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1979 to 2017. We compare Here, we present results from the component method updated the results with a surface mass balance model to deduce the to 2017 and extending back to 1979, or four decades of observa- ice sheet mass balance. The total mass loss increased from 40 ± tions. We use improved annual time series of ice sheet veloc- 9 Gt/y in 1979–1990 to 50 ± 14 Gt/y in 1989–2000, 166 ± 18 Gt/y ity, updated ice thickness, modeled reconstructions of surface in 1999–2009, and 252 ± 26 Gt/y in 2009–2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Morphological Characteristics of the Ice Margins of Antarctic Ice Shelf and Outlet Glacier Extracted from Icesat Laser Altimetry Along-Track Profiles
    Terr. Atmos. Ocean. Sci., Vol. 27, No. 4, 451-462, August 2016 doi: 10.3319/TAO.2015.12.24.01(ISRS) Morphological Characteristics of the Ice Margins of Antarctic Ice Shelf and Outlet Glacier Extracted from ICESat Laser Altimetry Along-Track Profiles Jieun Kim1, Jaehyung Yu2, *, Lei Wang 3, Hongxing Liu 4, and Haein Shin1 1 Department of Astronomy, Space Science and Geology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea 2 Department of Geology & Earth Environmental Sciences, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea 3 Department of Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Louisiana, U.S.A. 4 Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. Received 2 June 2015, revised 14 December 2015, accepted 24 December 2015 ABSTRACT The Antarctic ice sheet topography including elevation and slope is a key parameter for understanding ice sheet dynam- ics because the surface slope is a major controller of the ice flow gravitational driving stress magnitude. This study used Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimetry data to analyze the ice margin morphological parameters for 20 ice shelves and 12 outlet glaciers distributed over Antarctica. The bottom-up segmentation algorithm application effectively extracted the morphological parameters from the laser altimetry profiles. The ice shelves had an average boundary elevation of 29.5 m and a slope of 7.8°, with a decreasing surface slope pattern from the boundary to the inner side. The average number of segments and the length of the coastal margin for ice shelves extracted from the bottom-up segmentation algorithm is 3.2 and is 18.4 km, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Antarctic Exploration and a Postcript (By Stephen Scott-Fawcett) 75
    THE JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY THE JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY JOURNAL Number Six Antarctic Exploration Sir Ernest Shackleton MARCH 2012 1 Shackleton and a friend (Oliver Locker Lampson) in Cromer, c.1910. Image courtesy of Cromer Museum. 2 The James Caird Society Journal – Number Six March 2012 The Centennial season has arrived. Having celebrated Shackleton’s British Antarctic (Nimrod) Expedition, courtesy of the ‘Matrix Shackleton Centenary Expedition’, in 2008/9, we now turn our attention to the events of 1910/12. This was a period when 3 very extraordinary and ambitious men (Amundsen, Scott and Mawson) headed south, to a mixture of acclaim and tragedy. A little later (in 2014) we will be celebrating Sir Ernest’s ‘crowning glory’ –the Centenary of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic (Endurance) Expedition 1914/17. Shackleton failed in his main objective (to be the first to cross from one side of Antarctica to the other). He even failed to commence his land journey from the Weddell Sea coast to Ross Island. However, the rescue of his entire team from the ice and extreme cold (made possible by the remarkable voyage of the James Caird and the first crossing of South Georgia’s interior) was a remarkable feat and is the reason why most of us revere our polar hero and choose to be members of this Society. For all the alleged shenanigans between Scott and Shackleton, it would be a travesty if ‘Number Six’ failed to honour Captain Scott’s remarkable achievements - in particular, the important geographical and scientific work carried out on the Discovery and Terra Nova expeditions (1901-3 and 1910-12 respectively).
    [Show full text]