当前位置： 首页»科研成果» 2013 The slow-growing tooth of the Amery Ice Shelf from 2004 to 2012 赵晨、程晓、刘岩、惠凤鸣、康婧、王显威、王芳、程铖

 

Chen ZHAO, Xiao CHENG, Yan LIU, Fengming HUI, Jing KANG, Xianwei WANG, Fang WANG, Cheng CHENG

 

State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University and Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;

College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.

 

ABSTRACT

The Loose Tooth rift system is an active rift system located at the front of the Amery Ice Shelf, Antarctica, which is expected to calve and produce a large iceberg in the near future. A time series of Envisat advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) images from February 2004 to February 2012 has been used here to observe the system. The results show that both the west (T1) and east (T2) rifts propagated rapidly over 9 years at average rates of 4.49 and 2.53md–1, respectively. The rift system will not break during 2012–15 as previously projected, unless unforeseen events occur. Additionally, it was found that the heading direction of T1 turned dramatically in 2009–10. However, most surprising is that the propagation rates of both rifts have shown a decreasing trend since 2005, which might be due to increasing thickness of melange ice filling in the rifts. Other environmental factors (e.g. wind forcing and air temperature) may influence the rift motion by changing the mélange ice thickness and other properties.

 

PUBLISHED IN: JOURNAL OF GLACIOLOGY, 2013, 59 (215): 592-596.

 

SOURCE: http://www.igsoc.org/journal/59/215/j12J225.html