Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3964
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3964
10 Feb 2025
 | 10 Feb 2025

Totten Ice Shelf history over the past century interpreted from satellite imagery

Bertie W. J. Miles, Tian Li, and Robert G. Bingham

Abstract. Totten Glacier is currently the largest source of mass loss in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and it is projected to be a large source of sea-level rise over the coming century. The glacier has been losing mass for decades and inland thinning was detected in the earliest satellite-altimetry observations in the early 1990s, but when the glacier first started losing mass remains unknown. We calculate decadal ice-speed anomalies to confirm that Totten Glacier has not undergone sustained acceleration since at least 1973. Together with observations of grounding-line retreat from 1973–1989, we confirm that the glacier was already out of balance in the 1970s. Surface undulations form on the Totten Ice Shelf adjacent to an ice rumple near the grounding line in response to time-varying melt rates and are preserved downstream for several decades. From utilizing the full suite of Landsat imagery, we produce a century-long record of surface-undulation formation that we interpret as a qualitative record of basal-melt-rate variability. An anomalous ~20-year absence of undulations associated with the mid-20th century manifests a period when ice passing over the ice rumple was pervasively thinner, and may represent an anonymously warm period that triggered the onset of modern-day mass loss at Totten Glacier. Our results highlight that the currently available ~30-year satellite altimetry records are not long enough to capture the full scale of decadal variability in basal-melt rates and mass-loss patterns.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

25 Sep 2025
Totten Ice Shelf history over the past century interpreted from satellite imagery
Bertie W. J. Miles, Tian Li, and Robert G. Bingham
The Cryosphere, 19, 4027–4043, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4027-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4027-2025, 2025
Short summary
Bertie W. J. Miles, Tian Li, and Robert G. Bingham

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3964', Anonymous Referee #1, 01 Mar 2025
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3964', Anonymous Referee #2, 05 Mar 2025
  • AC1: 'Initial author response to reviewer comments', Bertie Miles, 21 Mar 2025

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3964', Anonymous Referee #1, 01 Mar 2025
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3964', Anonymous Referee #2, 05 Mar 2025
  • AC1: 'Initial author response to reviewer comments', Bertie Miles, 21 Mar 2025

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Reconsider after major revisions (further review by editor and referees) (07 Apr 2025) by Gong Cheng
AR by Bertie Miles on behalf of the Authors (03 Jun 2025)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (03 Jun 2025) by Gong Cheng
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (12 Jun 2025)
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (15 Jun 2025)
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (27 Jun 2025) by Gong Cheng
AR by Bertie Miles on behalf of the Authors (02 Jul 2025)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (21 Jul 2025) by Gong Cheng
AR by Bertie Miles on behalf of the Authors (28 Jul 2025)  Manuscript 

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

25 Sep 2025
Totten Ice Shelf history over the past century interpreted from satellite imagery
Bertie W. J. Miles, Tian Li, and Robert G. Bingham
The Cryosphere, 19, 4027–4043, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4027-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4027-2025, 2025
Short summary
Bertie W. J. Miles, Tian Li, and Robert G. Bingham
Bertie W. J. Miles, Tian Li, and Robert G. Bingham

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Short summary
Totten Glacier is the largest source of mass loss in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, with thinning detected since the 1990s, though the onset remains unclear. Ice-speed anomalies show no acceleration since 1973, confirming imbalance by the 1970s. A century-long record of surface undulations from Landsat imagery, linked to basal melt variability, reveals an anomalous mid-20th-century period with persistently high melt rates, possibly indicating the onset time of ice shelf thinning.
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