Spatial and Temporal Variability of Glacier Surface Velocities and Outlet Areas on James Ross Island, Northern Antarctic Peninsula.

Lippl S, Friedl P, Kittel C, Marinsek S, Seehaus T, Braun M (2019)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article, Online publication

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Book Volume: 9

Pages Range: 1-34

Article Number: 374

URI: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/9/9/374

DOI: 10.3390/geosciences9090374

Abstract

The northern Antarctic Peninsula was affected by a significant warming over the second
half of the 20th century and the collapse of several ice shelves. Local climate conditions on James Ross
Island on the northeastern coast can differ strongly from the main part of the Antarctic Peninsula.
This paper reports the spatial and temporal variability of glacier surface velocities and the area of
their outlets throughout James Ross Island, and evaluates potential relationships with atmospheric
and oceanic conditions. Velocity estimates were retrieved from intensity feature tracking of scenes
from satellite synthetic aperture radar sensors TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X between 2014 and 2018,
which were validated against ground observations. Calving front positions back to 1945 were used
to calculate outlet area changes for the glaciers by using a common-box approach. The annual
recession rates of almost all investigated glacier calving fronts decelerated for the time periods
2009–2014 and 2014–2018 in comparison to the period 1988–2009, but their velocity patterns differed.
Analysis of atmospheric conditions failed to explain the different patterns in velocity and area
changes. We suggest a strong influence from local bathymetric conditions. Future investigations of
the oceanic conditions would be necessary for a profound understanding of the super-position of
different influencing factors.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Dirección Nacional del Antártico - Instituto Antártico Argentino Argentina (AR) University of Liège (ULg) / Université de Liège Belgium (BE)

How to cite

APA:

Lippl, S., Friedl, P., Kittel, C., Marinsek, S., Seehaus, T., & Braun, M. (2019). Spatial and Temporal Variability of Glacier Surface Velocities and Outlet Areas on James Ross Island, Northern Antarctic Peninsula. Geosciences, 9, 1-34. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9090374

MLA:

Lippl, Stefan, et al. "Spatial and Temporal Variability of Glacier Surface Velocities and Outlet Areas on James Ross Island, Northern Antarctic Peninsula." Geosciences 9 (2019): 1-34.

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