Abstract
Abstract. The climatic conditions along the northern Antarctic Peninsula have shown significant changes within the last 50 years. Here we present a comprehensive analysis of temporally and spatially detailed observations of the changes in ice dynamics along both the east and west coastlines of the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Temporal evolutions of glacier area (1985–2015) and ice surface velocity (1992–2014) are derived from a broad multi-mission remote sensing database for 74 glacier basins on the northern Antarctic Peninsula ( < 65° S along the west coast and north of the Seal Nunataks on the east coast). A recession of the glaciers by 238.81 km2 is found for the period 1985–2015, of which the glaciers affected by ice shelf disintegration showed the largest retreat by 208.59 km2. Glaciers on the east coast north of the former Prince Gustav Ice Shelf extent in 1986 receded by only 21.07 km2 (1985–2015) and decelerated by about 58 % on average (1992–2014). A dramatic acceleration after ice shelf disintegration with a subsequent deceleration is observed at most former ice shelf tributaries on the east coast, combined with a significant frontal retreat. In 2014, the flow speed of the former ice shelf tributaries was 26 % higher than before 1996. Along the west coast the average flow speeds of the glaciers increased by 41 %. However, the glaciers on the western Antarctic Peninsula revealed a strong spatial variability of the changes in ice dynamics. By applying a hierarchical cluster analysis, we show that this is associated with the geometric parameters of the individual glacier basins (hypsometric indexes, maximum surface elevation of the basin, flux gate to catchment size ratio). The heterogeneous spatial pattern of ice dynamic evolutions at the northern Antarctic Peninsula shows that temporally and spatially detailed observations as well as further monitoring are necessary to fully understand glacier change in regions with such strong topographic and climatic variances.
Highlights
During the last century, the northern Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and its outlying islands have undergone significant warming (Turner et al, 2005), leading to substantial glaciological changes. Skvarca et al (1998) reported a significant increase in surface air temperatures at the northeastern AP in the period 1960–1997 and correlated it with the recession of the Larsen and Prince Gustav ice shelves (Fig. 1) and the observed retreat of tidewater glaciers on James Ross Island in the period 1975–1995 (Skvarca et al, 1995)
Our analysis expands on previous work (Pritchard and Vaughan, 2007) on ice dynamic changes along the west coast of AP between TPE8 and Bagshawe–Grubb glaciers, in regard to both temporal coverage and analysis methods
The results are in general in line with findings of the previous studies; along the west coast a more accelerated glacier flow is determined and on the eastern side temporal evolution of ice dynamics of 21 glaciers is observed for the first time
Summary
The northern Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and its outlying islands have undergone significant warming (Turner et al, 2005), leading to substantial glaciological changes. Skvarca et al (1998) reported a significant increase in surface air temperatures at the northeastern AP in the period 1960–1997 and correlated it with the recession of the Larsen and Prince Gustav ice shelves (Fig. 1) and the observed retreat of tidewater glaciers on James Ross Island in the period 1975–1995 (Skvarca et al, 1995). The northern Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and its outlying islands have undergone significant warming (Turner et al, 2005), leading to substantial glaciological changes. Skvarca et al (1998) reported a significant increase in surface air temperatures at the northeastern AP in the period 1960–1997 and correlated it with the recession of the Larsen and Prince Gustav ice shelves (Fig. 1) and the observed retreat of tidewater glaciers on James Ross Island in the period 1975–1995 (Skvarca et al, 1995). Along the western AP and on the higher-elevation areas an increase in snow accumulation in the late 20th century was derived from ice cores – e.g., at Palmer Land
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