Analysis of stability of icebergs and glacier frontal ablation of Dinsmoor–Bombardier–Edgeworth glacier system, Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract:

The retreat or collapse of floating ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) reduces the restraining effect on their feeding glaciers, which results in acceleration, dynamic thinning, and contributes to sea level rise. The largest ice discharge occurred in the Weddell sea and the east-northern AP following ice shelf retreat and collapse as a response to both atmospheric and oceanic warming and the influence of significant circulation changes in these complex glacio-atmospheric-oceanic systems. Ocean warming has been implicated as a trigger for these changes in glacier dynamics and shape of calving icebergs. The stability of an iceberg can be determined accurately only when the data on the berg are complete. If the data are incomplete or approximate, it is necessary to know to what degree the stability is dependent on various parameters, especially those parameters associated with the under-water shape of the berg. We used remotely-sensed index stability icebergs of two glaciers on the east-northern AP from 2003 to 2020 to explore connections between variations in ocean conditions and glacier frontal ablation. We calculated index stability icebergs following regional ocean temperature variations, with the middle index stability near Dinsmoor glacier in the south and the lowest index stability for this area, near Edgeworth glacier in the north. Near-coincident glacier frontal ablation rates from 2010 to 2020 vary from ~450 m a−1 at Edgeworth glacier to ~500 m a−1 at Dinsmoor glacier.