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Author Spotlight: Innovative Ice Cream Melting Behavior Analysis Through a Computer Vision System
Published on: October 4, 2024
Heterogeneous retreat and ice melt of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica
P Milillo1, E Rignot1,2, P Rizzoli3
1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Abstract:
The glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, have undergone acceleration and grounding line retreat over the past few decades that may yield an irreversible mass loss. Using a constellation of satellites, we detect the evolution of ice velocity, ice thinning, and grounding line retreat of Thwaites Glacier from 1992 to 2017. The results reveal a complex pattern of retreat and ice melt, with sectors retreating at 0.8 km/year and floating ice melting at 200 m/year, while others retreat at 0.3 km/year with ice melting 10 times slower. We interpret the results in terms of buoyancy/slope-driven seawater intrusion along preferential channels at tidal frequencies leading to more efficient melt in newly formed cavities. Such complexities in ice-ocean interaction are not currently represented in coupled ice sheet/ocean models.
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