Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Bathymetric Influences on Antarctic Ice-Shelf Melt Rates

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jc016370· OSTI ID:1863257
Ocean bathymetry exerts a strong control on ice sheet-ocean interactions within Antarctic ice-shelf cavities, where it can limit the access of warm, dense water at depth to the underside of floating ice shelves. However, ocean bathymetry is challenging to measure within or close to ice-shelf cavities. It remains unclear how uncertainty in existing bathymetry datasets affect simulated sub-ice-shelf melt rates. In this work, we infer linear sensitivities of ice-shelf melt rates to bathymetric shape with grid-scale detail by means of the adjoint of an ocean general circulation model. Both idealized and realistic-geometry experiments of sub-ice-shelf cavities in West Antarctica reveal that bathymetry has a strong impact on melt in localized regions such as topographic obstacles to flow. Moreover, response of melt to bathymetric perturbation is found to be non-monotonic, with deepening leading to either increased or decreased melt depending on location. Our computational approach provides a comprehensive way of identifying regions, where refined knowledge of bathymetry is most impactful, and also where bathymetric errors have relatively little effect on modeled ice sheet-ocean interactions.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); Natural Environment Research Council (NERC); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1863257
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 125; ISSN 2169-9275
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (83)

Simulation of subice shelf melt rates in a general circulation model: Velocity-dependent transfer and the role of friction: ice Shelf-Ocean Interactions in a gcm journal March 2014
Geometric and oceanographic controls on melting beneath Pine Island Glacier journal April 2014
Circulation and meltwater distribution in the Bellingshausen Sea: From shelf break to coast: SHELF CIRCULATION IN BELLINGSHAUSEN SEA journal June 2016
Bathymetry of the Amundsen Sea Embayment sector of West Antarctica from Operation IceBridge gravity and other data journal February 2017
Impact of model resolution for on-shelf heat transport along the West Antarctic Peninsula: MODELING ON-SHELF HEAT TRANSPORT journal October 2016
Channelized Melting Drives Thinning Under a Rapidly Melting Antarctic Ice Shelf journal October 2017
Oceanographic Controls on the Variability of Ice‐Shelf Basal Melting and Circulation of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica journal December 2017
Ocean-Forced Ice-Shelf Thinning in a Synchronously Coupled Ice-Ocean Model: ICE-SHELF THINNING IN AN ICE-OCEAN MODEL journal February 2018
Oceanographic observations at the shelf break of the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica: Amundsen Sea Shelf-Edge Currents journal June 2013
A Model for Holocene Retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet journal September 1978
Topographically generated eddies journal August 1976
Timescales and regions of the sensitivity of Atlantic meridional volume and heat transport: Toward observing system design journal September 2011
Iron from melting glaciers fuels the phytoplankton blooms in Amundsen Sea (Southern Ocean): Iron biogeochemistry journal September 2012
Glider observations of the Dotson Ice Shelf outflow journal January 2016
Generating efficient derivative code with TAF journal October 2005
An efficient exact adjoint of the parallel MIT General Circulation Model, generated via automatic differentiation journal October 2005
Representing grounding line migration in synchronous coupling between a marine ice sheet model and a z-coordinate ocean model journal May 2018
Practical global oceanic state estimation journal June 2007
The Ocean Circulation Inverse Problem book May 2010
Marine ice-sheet dynamics. Part 1. The case of rapid sliding journal February 2007
Glaciological and oceanographic evidence of high melt rates beneath Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica journal January 1997
The Dynamics of Marine Ice Sheets journal January 1979
Modelling the ocean circulation beneath the Ross Ice Shelf journal February 2003
Warm ocean is eroding West Antarctic Ice Sheet: WARM OCEAN IS ERODING WAIS journal December 2004
Bathymetry of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf: Implications for geology, oceanography, and glaciology: AMUNDSEN SEA CONTINENTAL SHELF journal October 2007
Melting of floating ice and sea level rise: FLOATING ICE AND SEA LEVEL RISE journal August 2007
Modeling ice shelf cavities in a z coordinate ocean general circulation model journal January 2008
Modelling Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions on the Amundsen Sea continental shelf, Antarctica journal January 2008
Seals map bathymetry of the Antarctic continental shelf: SEALS MAP ANTARCTIC BATHYMETRY journal November 2010
Progressive unpinning of Thwaites Glacier from newly identified offshore ridge: Constraints from aerogravity: THWAITES OFFSHORE RIDGE journal October 2011
How Accurately Should We Model Ice Shelf Melt Rates? journal January 2019
A New Bathymetry for the Southeastern Filchner‐Ronne Ice Shelf: Implications for Modern Oceanographic Processes and Glacial History journal July 2018
The Antarctic Slope Current in a Changing Climate journal December 2018
Quantifying Dynamical Proxy Potential Through Shared Adjustment Physics in the North Atlantic journal August 2020
Antarctic Ice Sheet melting in the southeast Pacific journal May 1996
Hydrostatic, quasi-hydrostatic, and nonhydrostatic ocean modeling journal March 1997
Antarctic ice-sheet loss driven by basal melting of ice shelves journal April 2012
Twenty-first-century warming of a large Antarctic ice-shelf cavity by a redirected coastal current journal May 2012
Mechanisms driving variability in the ocean forcing of Pine Island Glacier journal February 2017
Stronger ocean circulation and increased melting under Pine Island Glacier ice shelf journal June 2011
Persistent inflow of warm water onto the central Amundsen shelf journal November 2012
Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat journal June 2010
West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat in the Amundsen Sea driven by decadal oceanic variability journal August 2018
Deep glacial troughs and stabilizing ridges unveiled beneath the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet journal December 2019
Ice front blocking of ocean heat transport to an Antarctic ice shelf journal February 2020
The land ice contribution to sea level during the satellite era journal June 2018
Wind causes Totten Ice Shelf melt and acceleration journal November 2017
Ice-Shelf Melting Around Antarctica journal June 2013
Strong Sensitivity of Pine Island Ice-Shelf Melting to Climatic Variability journal January 2014
Marine Ice Sheet Collapse Potentially Under Way for the Thwaites Glacier Basin, West Antarctica journal May 2014
Structure of West Antarctica: The results of United States IGY oversnow traverses reveal the nature of a large portion of ice-covered Antarctica. journal January 1960
Evaluating Derivatives book January 2008
Optimal Multistage Algorithm for Adjoint Computation journal January 2016
OpenAD/F: A Modular Open-Source Tool for Automatic Differentiation of Fortran Codes journal July 2008
Algorithm 799: revolve: an implementation of checkpointing for the reverse or adjoint mode of computational differentiation journal March 2000
What Is an Adjoint Model? journal November 1997
Influence of Topography on the Large-Scale Ocean Circulation journal July 1995
Effects of Bottom Topography in the Large-Scale Circulation of the Southern Ocean journal November 1995
Topographic Sensitivity Studies with a Bryan–Cox-Type Ocean Model journal May 1997
Modeling Thermodynamic Ice–Ocean Interactions at the Base of an Ice Shelf journal August 1999
Representation of Topography by Shaved Cells in a Height Coordinate Ocean Model journal September 1997
Finite Difference of Adjoint or Adjoint of Finite Difference? journal December 1997
Dynamical Attribution of Recent Variability in Atlantic Overturning journal May 2016
Atmospheric Origins of Variability in the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation journal February 2019
Impact of Atmospheric Forcing on Antarctic Continental Shelf Water Masses journal May 2013
A Simple Model of the Ice Shelf–Ocean Boundary Layer and Current journal June 2016
Sill-Influenced Exchange Flows in Ice Shelf Cavities journal January 2019
Adjoint Sensitivity of an Ocean General Circulation Model to Bottom Topography journal February 2007
Treating strong adjoint sensitivities in tropical eddy-permitting variational data assimilation journal October 2005
Adjoint sensitivities of sub-ice-shelf melt rates to ocean circulation under the Pine Island Ice Shelf, West Antarctica journal January 2012
Sensitivity of the ice-shelf/ocean system to the sub-ice-shelf cavity shape measured by NASA IceBridge in Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica journal January 2012
Inversion of IceBridge gravity data for continental shelf bathymetry beneath the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica journal January 2012
Bathymetry of Northwest Greenland Using “Ocean Melting Greenland” (OMG) High-Resolution Airborne Gravity and Other Data journal January 2019
Explicit representation and parametrised impacts of under ice shelf seas in the z coordinate ocean model NEMO 3.6 journal January 2017
Simulated melt rates for the Totten and Dalton ice shelves journal January 2014
Changes in flow of Crosson and Dotson ice shelves, West Antarctica, in response to elevated melt journal January 2018
Twenty-first century ocean forcing of the Greenland ice sheet for modelling of sea level contribution journal January 2020
Parameter and state estimation with a time-dependent adjoint marine ice sheet model journal January 2013
Committed retreat of Smith, Pope, and Kohler Glaciers over the next 30 years inferred by transient model calibration journal January 2015
Seafloor Topography and Ocean Circulation journal March 2004
The Global General Circulation of the Ocean Estimated by the ECCO-Consortium journal June 2009
ASPIRE: The Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition journal September 2012
Decadal Ocean Forcing and Antarctic Ice Sheet Response: Lessons from the Amundsen Sea journal December 2016