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Published on: May 1, 2018
Tributaries of West Antarctic Ice Streams Revealed by RADARSAT Interferometry
1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, M/S 300-235, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, Applications Division, 588 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y7, Canada. Code 971, Oceans and Ice Branch, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. SAIC General Sciences Corporation, 4600 Powder Mill Road, Beltsville, MD 20705-2675, USA. Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road 600, Austin, TX 78759, USA.
Interferometric RADARSAT data reveal how West Antarctic ice streams connect to inland tributaries. Some tributaries feeding stagnant Ice Stream C are causing rapid ice thickening, a significant Antarctic finding.
Area of Science:
- Glaciology
- Remote Sensing
- Antarctic Science
Background:
- West Antarctic ice streams are crucial for sea-level rise.
- Understanding ice dynamics in source regions is key to predicting future ice loss.
- Subglacial topography influences ice flow.
Purpose of the Study:
- To map ice motion in the source regions of four West Antarctic ice streams.
- To investigate the transition from slow inland flow to rapid ice stream flow.
- To analyze ice thickening in stagnant regions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized interferometric RADARSAT data.
- Mapped ice motion using satellite radar interferometry.
- Analyzed ice velocity and surface elevation changes.
Main Results:
- Identified tributaries as extensive transition zones between slow and fast ice flow.
- Revealed shared source regions for adjacent ice streams.
- Observed significant ice thickening (0.49 m/year) in a region fed by tributaries into Ice Stream C, one of the highest rates recorded in Antarctica.
Conclusions:
- Subglacial valleys guide tributary flow, influencing ice stream dynamics.
- Ice streams can draw from interconnected, shared source regions.
- Rapid thickening in stagnant areas highlights complex ice dynamics and potential instability.
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