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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1571
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1571
29 Jul 2024
 | 29 Jul 2024

A reconstruction of the ice thickness of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet north of 70º S

Kaian Shahateet, Johannes J. Fürst, Francisco Navarro, Thorsten Seehaus, Daniel Farinotti, and Matthias Braun

Abstract. An accurate knowledge of the ice-thickness distribution on the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS) is important to assess both its present and future responses to climate change. The aim of the present work is to improve the ice-thickness distribution map of the APIS by using a two-step approach. Such approach, which readily assimilates ice-thickness observations, considers two different rheological assumptions, and applies mass conservation in fast-flowing areas, where it also assimilates ice-velocity observations. Using this method, we calculated a total volume of 27.7 ± 10.1 103 km3 for the APIS north of 70º S. Using our ice-thickness map and the flux-gate method, we estimated a total ice discharge of 97.7 ± 15.4 km3 a−1 over the period 2015−2017, which is an intermediate value within the range of estimates by other authors. Our thickness results show relatively low deviations from other reconstructions on the glaciers used for validation. Qualitative analysis further reveals that our method properly reproduces the observed morphology of regional features, such as plateau areas, ice falls, and valley glaciers. Despite the advances made in data assimilation and inversion modeling, further refinement of input data, particularly ice-thickness measurements, remains crucial to improve the accuracy of the APIS ice-thickness mapping efforts.

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Kaian Shahateet, Johannes J. Fürst, Francisco Navarro, Thorsten Seehaus, Daniel Farinotti, and Matthias Braun

Status: final response (author comments only)

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-1571', Anonymous Referee #1, 30 Aug 2024
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Kaian Shahateet, 02 Dec 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-1571', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Nov 2024
Kaian Shahateet, Johannes J. Fürst, Francisco Navarro, Thorsten Seehaus, Daniel Farinotti, and Matthias Braun
Kaian Shahateet, Johannes J. Fürst, Francisco Navarro, Thorsten Seehaus, Daniel Farinotti, and Matthias Braun

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Short summary
In the present work, we provide a new ice-thickness reconstruction of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet north of 70º S by using inversion modeling. This model consists of two steps; the first takes basic assumptions of the rheology of the glacier, and the second uses mass conservation to improve the reconstruction where the previously made assumptions are expected to fail. Validation with independent data showed that our reconstruction improved compared to other reconstruction available.