Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf
Abstract Ice shelves restrain grounded ice discharge into the ocean, and their break-up contributes significantly to Antarctica’s sea level rise. Using aerial imagery from the 1960s and modern satellite data, we construct a long-term record of Wordie Ice Shelf’s disintegration and its effects on tri...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59293-1 |
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| author | Mads Dømgaard Romain Millan Jonas K. Andersen Bernd Scheuchl Eric Rignot Maaike Izeboud Maud Bernat Anders A. Bjørk |
| author_facet | Mads Dømgaard Romain Millan Jonas K. Andersen Bernd Scheuchl Eric Rignot Maaike Izeboud Maud Bernat Anders A. Bjørk |
| author_sort | Mads Dømgaard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Ice shelves restrain grounded ice discharge into the ocean, and their break-up contributes significantly to Antarctica’s sea level rise. Using aerial imagery from the 1960s and modern satellite data, we construct a long-term record of Wordie Ice Shelf’s disintegration and its effects on tributary glaciers. Early changes in pinning points and ocean warming in Marguerite Bay since the 1960s strongly suggest increasing basal melt as the primary driver of the ice shelf disintegration. Some glaciers responded immediately to the ice shelf break-up, with surface velocities tripling, thinning up to 160 m, and grounding line retreat of 7.5 km, while others reacted decades later due to buttressing from remnant parts of the ice shelf. Our findings emphasize the importance of long-term observations to understand ice shelf disintegration and its impacts, offering crucial insights for assessments of future ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d7b4ae7bf1ac44758579bd5da303abc8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-d7b4ae7bf1ac44758579bd5da303abc82025-08-20T02:10:50ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-04-0116111110.1038/s41467-025-59293-1Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice ShelfMads Dømgaard0Romain Millan1Jonas K. Andersen2Bernd Scheuchl3Eric Rignot4Maaike Izeboud5Maud Bernat6Anders A. Bjørk7Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenUniv. Grenoble Alpes, IRD, CNRS, INRAE, Grenoble INP IGEDepartment of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Earth System Science, University of CaliforniaUniv. Grenoble Alpes, IRD, CNRS, INRAE, Grenoble INP IGEDepartment of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Delft University of TechnologyUniversité de Toulouse, LEGOS (CNES/CNRS/IRD/UT3)Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenAbstract Ice shelves restrain grounded ice discharge into the ocean, and their break-up contributes significantly to Antarctica’s sea level rise. Using aerial imagery from the 1960s and modern satellite data, we construct a long-term record of Wordie Ice Shelf’s disintegration and its effects on tributary glaciers. Early changes in pinning points and ocean warming in Marguerite Bay since the 1960s strongly suggest increasing basal melt as the primary driver of the ice shelf disintegration. Some glaciers responded immediately to the ice shelf break-up, with surface velocities tripling, thinning up to 160 m, and grounding line retreat of 7.5 km, while others reacted decades later due to buttressing from remnant parts of the ice shelf. Our findings emphasize the importance of long-term observations to understand ice shelf disintegration and its impacts, offering crucial insights for assessments of future ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59293-1 |
| spellingShingle | Mads Dømgaard Romain Millan Jonas K. Andersen Bernd Scheuchl Eric Rignot Maaike Izeboud Maud Bernat Anders A. Bjørk Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf Nature Communications |
| title | Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf |
| title_full | Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf |
| title_fullStr | Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf |
| title_full_unstemmed | Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf |
| title_short | Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf |
| title_sort | half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean driven break up of wordie ice shelf |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59293-1 |
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