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SUMMARY:Ocean forcing of ice sheet change in West Antarctica - Adrian Jenk
 ins (British Antarctic Survey)
DTSTART:20110126T163000Z
DTEND:20110126T173000Z
UID:TALK28763@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Poul Christoffersen
DESCRIPTION:The part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that drains into the 
 Amundsen Sea is currently thinning at such a rate that it contributes near
 ly 10% of the observed rise in global mean sea level. Acceleration of the 
 outlet glaciers means that the sea level contribution has grown over the p
 ast decades\, while the likely future contribution remains a key unknown. 
 The synchronous response of several independent glaciers\, coupled with th
 e observation that thinning is most rapid at their downstream ends\, where
  the ice goes afloat\, is generally taken as an indicator that the changes
  are being forced by the ocean. On Pine Island Glacier (PIG)\, in particul
 ar\, the signatures of acceleration\, thinning and inland retreat of the\n
 grounding line\, where the ice goes afloat\, have been almost monotonic in
  the admittedly short and patchy observational record. Understanding the c
 auses of these changes and their relationship to climate variability is im
 perative if we are to make quantitative estimates of sea level into the fu
 ture. Observations made since the mid‐1990s on the Amundsen Sea continen
 tal shelf have revealed that the deep troughs\, carved by previous\nglacia
 l advances\, are flooded by almost unmodified Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW)
  with temperatures around 3‐4°C above the freezing point\, and that thi
 s water mass drives rapid melting of the floating ice. This talk summarise
 s the results of recent work\, including both observations made by an Auto
 nomous Underwater Vehicle beneath the floating tongue of PIG and numerical
  modelling of ocean circulation in the Amundsen Sea. The results give us i
 mportant insight into the processes that could cause variability of CDW in
 flows and how the impact of any such variability on PIG would have been in
 fluenced by the seabed topography beneath the floating glacier tongue.
LOCATION:Scott Polar Research Institute\, main lecture theatre
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