Intrinsic processes drive variability in basal melting of the Totten Glacier Ice Shelf.

ABSTRACT: Over the period 2003-2008, the Totten Ice Shelf (TIS) was shown to be rapidly thinning, likely due to basal melting. However, a recent study using a longer time series found high interannual variability present in TIS surface elevation without any apparent trend. Here we show that low-frequency intrinsic ocean variability potentially accounts for a large fraction of the variability in the basal melting of TIS. Specifically, numerical ocean model simulations show that up to 44% of the modelled variability in basal melting in the 1-5 year timescale (and up to 21% in the 5-10 year timescale) is intrinsic, with a similar response to the full climate forcing. We identify the important role of intrinsic ocean variability in setting the observed interannual variation in TIS surface thickness and

SUBMITTER: Gwyther DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6081466 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature