Geodetic Mass Balance of the South Shetland Islands Ice Caps, Antarctica, from Differencing TanDEM-X DEMs

Kaian Shahateet,Christian Sommer,Francisco Navarro,Thorsten Seehaus,Matthias Braun

doi:10.3390/rs13173408

Kaian Shahateet, Christian Sommer + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13173408

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Abstract

Although the glaciers in the Antarctic periphery currently modestly contribute to sea level rise, their contribution is projected to increase substantially until the end of the 21st century. The South Shetland Islands (SSI), located to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula, are lacking a geodetic mass balance calculation for the entire archipelago. We estimated its geodetic mass balance over a 3–4-year period within 2013–2017. Our estimation is based on remotely sensed multispectral and interferometric SAR data covering 96% of the glacierized areas of the islands considered in our study and 73% of the total glacierized area of the SSI archipelago (Elephant, Clarence, and Smith Islands were excluded due to data limitations). Our results show a close to balance, slightly negative average specific mass balance for the whole area of −0.106 ± 0.007 m w.e. a−1, representing a mass change of −238 ± 12 Mt a−1. These results are consistent with a wider scale geodetic mass balance estimation and with glaciological mass balance measurements at SSI locations for the same study period. They are also consistent with the cooling trend observed in the region between 1998 and the mid-2010s.

Highlights

The majority of its glacier area (63%) is situated in the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) region, where one of the most rapidly warming trends on Earth was observed during the second half of the 20th century [4,5,6,7]
We can see that Livingston and Deception are the only islands showing positive mass changes, with an order of magnitude larger for Livingston due to its much greater area
If Elephant, Smith, and ence Islands are included, the coverage reduces to 73% of the total glacierized area of the Clarence Islands are included, the coverage reduces to 73% of the total glacierized area of

Summary

Introduction

One of the major impacts of climate change is sea level rise (SLR) due to the melting of land ice combined with thermal expansion of the oceans. The current contribution to SLR by the glaciers in the Antarctic periphery (Region 19—Antarctic and Subantarctic in the Glacier Regions classification [1]) is relatively small [2], but it is projected to increase substantially until the end of the 21st century [3]. The majority of its glacier area (63%) is situated in the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) region, where one of the most rapidly warming trends on Earth was observed during the second half of the 20th century [4,5,6,7]. Turner et al [8] identified a turning point from a warming trend of 0.32 ◦ C/decade during

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