Positive Mass Balance of the Ross Ice Streams, West Antarctica

Author:

Joughin Ian1,Tulaczyk Slawek2

Affiliation:

1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mailstop 300-235, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.

2. Department of Earth Sciences, A208 Earth and Marine Sciences Building, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.

Abstract

We have used ice-flow velocity measurements from synthetic aperture radar to reassess the mass balance of the Ross Ice Streams, West Antarctica. We find strong evidence for ice-sheet growth (+26.8 gigatons per year), in contrast to earlier estimates indicating a mass deficit (−20.9 gigatons per year). Average thickening is equal to ∼25% of the accumulation rate, with most of this growth occurring on Ice Stream C. Whillans Ice Stream, which was thought to have a significantly negative mass balance, is close to balance, reflecting its continuing slowdown. The overall positive mass balance may signal an end to the Holocene retreat of these ice streams.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference42 articles.

1. R. B. Alley R. A. Bindschadler Antarctic Res. Ser. 77 (American Geophysical Union Washington DC 2001).

2. A millennium of variable ice flow recorded by the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica

3. Past and Future Grounding-Line Retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

4. Future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

5. J. H. Mercer Int. Assoc. Hydrol. Sci. Publ. 179 (1968).

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