Ice velocities on the front of Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, from static GPS observations

Abstract

The Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf (LAS) system is the largest glacier-ice-shelf system in East Antarctica, the Amery Ice Shelf (AIS) and its tributaries drain ice from the LAS system. During the austral summer season of 2002/03, the 19th Chinese National Antarctica Research Expedition (CHINARE) carried out the first expedition on the Amery Ice Shelf and set up 7 GPS sites, During the austral summer season of 2003/04, the 20th Chinese National Antarctica Research Expedition (CHINARE) cooperated with Australian National Antarctica Research Expedition (ANARE) visited the Amery Ice Shelf again, 5 GPS sites were reoccupied. The GPS data were processed using the GAMIT/GLOBK software, and the surface ice velocities was calculated. Results show that surface horizontal velocities at the 5 GPS sites at the front of the Amery Ice Shelf vary between 900m/y and 1600m/y. Such studies are fundamental to improving our knowledge of the Antarctic ice sheet mass balance and dynamical models of ice/ocean interaction.