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| Titel |
Response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to increased ice-shelf oceanic melting |
| VerfasserIn |
David Pollard, Robert DeConto |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2010
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 12 (2010) |
| Datensatznummer |
250041000
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| Zusammenfassung |
| A numerical ice sheet-shelf model is used to simulate the large-scale
response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to prescribed future increases in
oceanic melting at the base of floating ice shelves. The model is driven
forward in time starting from modern conditions, with step-function
perturbations in parameterized sub-ice oceanic melt rates that crudely
represent possible ranges due to future anthropogenic warming.
It is found that with melt rates under the interiors of large shelves
increased to ~2 m/y or more (from modern 0.1 m/y), drastic grounding line
retreat in the Ross, Filchner-Ronne and Pine Island/Thwaites embayments
leads to collapse of nearly all marine West Antarctic ice. The time scale
of collapse depends on the magnitude of oceanic melt: ~1500 years for 2 m/y,
and ~300 years for "infinite" melt (no floating ice). The WAIS collapse
causes ~3 m of global sea-level rise. Further results are presented which
include surface mass-balance changes, time-dependent future forcing,
and spatial differences in ocean melting between embayments. |
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