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Ice-stream stability on a reverse bed slope

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 799–802 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Marine-based ice streams whose beds deepen inland are thought to be inherently unstable1,2,3. This instability is of particular concern because significant portions of the marine-based West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are losing mass and their retreat could contribute significantly to future sea-level rise4,5,6,7. However, the present understanding of ice-stream stability is limited by observational records that are too short to resolve multi-decadal to millennial-scale behaviour or to validate numerical models8. Here we present a dynamic numerical simulation of Antarctic ice-stream retreat since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), constrained by geophysical data, whose behaviour is consistent with the geomorphological record. We find that retreat of Marguerite Bay Ice Stream following the LGM was highly nonlinear and was interrupted by stabilizations on a reverse-sloping bed, where theory predicts rapid unstable retreat. We demonstrate that these transient stabilizations were caused by enhanced lateral drag as the ice stream narrowed. We conclude that, as well as bed topography, ice-stream width and long-term retreat history are crucial for understanding decadal- to centennial-scale ice-stream behaviour and marine ice-sheet vulnerability.

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Figure 1: Topographic map and ice-stream landform assemblage in Marguerite Bay.
Figure 2: Modelled ice-stream retreat characteristics for reference experiment A illustrating grounding-line stabilizations on a reverse bed slope.
Figure 3: Ice-stream retreat behaviour and imposed geometries for experiments B–D.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Pfeffer, T. Payne and R. Hindmarsh for constructive comments. This project was financially supported by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK, grant no. NE/G015430/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Stewart S. R. Jamieson, Andreas Vieli, Colm Ó Cofaigh & Chris Stokes

  2. Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Stephen J. Livingstone

  3. British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

    Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand

  4. Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1ER, UK

    Julian A. Dowdeswell

Authors
  1. Stewart S. R. Jamieson
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  2. Andreas Vieli
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  4. Colm Ó Cofaigh
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  5. Chris Stokes
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  6. Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand
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  7. Julian A. Dowdeswell
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Contributions

S.S.R.J. and A.V. contributed equally to this work. S.S.R.J. completed the numerical modelling and extended the model provided by A.V. S.S.R.J. wrote the first draft and all authors contributed to the analysis, interpretation and the writing of the paper. A.V., C.S., C.Ó.C. and C.D.H. conceived the idea and designed the research. S.J.L. carried out the mapping. C.D.H. and J.A.D. contributed chronological and geophysical data.

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Correspondence to Stewart S. R. Jamieson.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Jamieson, S., Vieli, A., Livingstone, S. et al. Ice-stream stability on a reverse bed slope. Nature Geosci 5, 799–802 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1600

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