Melting and Refreezing in an Ice Shelf Basal Channel at the Grounding Line of the Kamb Ice Stream, West Antarctica

Abstract

AbstractIce shelves buttress ice streams and glaciers, slowing the rate at which they flow into the ocean. When this buttressing is reduced, either through increased melt or calving, the increased discharge of grounded ice upstream contributes to sea level rise. The thickness, strength, and stability of ice shelves can be influenced by channels in the ice base. Here, we focus on a subglacially sourced basal channel which is observed to have melted up to 50% of the ice shelf thickness. The channel extends 6 km upstream of the previously estimated grounding line of the stagnant Kamb Ice Stream. Using a combination of ground–based observations and remote sensing, we find that the channel is growing upstream over time. Over–snow radar surveying images the shape of the channel, constrains a steep inception, and shows that not all of the basal shape is manifest at the surface. Modern surface lowering at the upstream head of the channel is interpreted as a region of focused melt where a subglacial outlet meets the ocean cavity. We estimate this basal melt to be at least 35 m/a in a narrow (200 m × 1.5 km) zone. Downstream from the melt region, repeat phase sensitive radar observations reveal accretion contributing to the growth of a ledge on the true–right side of the channel. We conclude that the channel is likely formed by a retreating subglacial outlet which enhances basal melt episodically.