Collaborative Research: Discharge Variability of Ross Ice Streams Over the Last Millenium, Deduced by Numerical Simulation of Flow Features in the Ross Ice Shelf

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the investigation of the dishcarge variability of Ross Ice Streams over the last millenium, using a combination of numerical simulation and satellite remote sensing of flow features on the Ross Ice Shelf. The proposed collaborative research will use the Ross Ice Shelf record of flow variability to deduce variations in ice stream discharge over the last 1000 years. Changes in ice stream discharge disrupt flow of the ice shelf, in both profound and subtle ways, distorting flow features and changing creavasse patterns. The result is an integrated record of many changes over the lifetime of the ice within the shelf. Interpretations of flow-trace and crevasse geometry already made by Fahnestock and others will be used as a template for the design of numerical modeling experiments. The primary objectives are to verify the imagery-derived history and to quantify the volume flux implied by that history. The proposed research will improve existing concepts of ice stream discharge variability and will produce new data sets, both of which will be of use to the Antarctic glaciology community. Landsat-7 imagery will be used to measure velocity in areas of particular interest where existing data are inadequate. MODIS data, which has better radiometric and spatial resolution will be used to improve feature mapping on the ice shelf in sensitive areas.