Abstract
A SUBSTANTIAL outflow of ice from the Antarctic Ice Cap is via the floating ice shelves1. It is therefore important in establishing a mass budget for the continent as a whole to have some measure of the budgets of the ice shelves. Calculations using continuity and isostatics in conjunction with measured velocities and strains can give the mass flow, but errors in measurement and the great difficulty in allowing for any state of imbalance in the shelf mass equilibrium make the total amount of water lost or gained by the shelf while it is in contact with the sea uncertain2. The measurements presented here, by showing the total thickness of such ice on sea water, give an integrated value of the freezing rate as the shelf moves out.
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References
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MORGAN, V. Oxygen Isotope Evidence for Bottom Freezing on the Amery Ice Shelf. Nature 238, 393–394 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/238393a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/238393a0
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