Recent Deceleration of the Ice Elevation Change of Ecology Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica)

Abstract

Abstract:Glacier change studies in the Antarctic Peninsula region, despite their importance for global sea level rise, are commonly restricted to the investigation of frontal position changes. Here we present a long term (37 years; 1979-2016) study of ice elevation changes of the Ecology Glacier, King George Island (62 • 11 S, 58 • 29 W). The glacier covers an area of 5.21 km 2 and is located close to the H. Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station, and therefore has been an object of various multidisciplinary studies with subject ranging from glaciology, meteorology to glacial microbiology. Hence, it is of great interest to assess its current state and put it in a broader context of recent glacial change. In order to achieve that goal, we conducted an analysis of archival cartographic material and combined it with field measurements of proglacial lagoon hydrography and state-of-art geodetic surveying of the glacier surface with terrestrial laser scanning and satellite imagery. Overall mass loss was largest in the beginning of 2000s, and the rate of elevation change substantially decreased between 2012-2016, with little ice front retreat and no significant surface lowering. Ice elevation change rate for the common ablation area over all analyzed periods (1979-2001-2012-2016)

Fluctuation of Glacial Retreat Rates in the Eastern Part of Warszawa Icefield, King George Island, Antarctica, 1979–2018

“…The first field studies of glaciers in Admiralty Bay were conducted in the 1950s and reported a general reduction in ice extent [7]. Since the 1950s, an increased glacier retreat has been reported on King George Island by numerous studies [6,[8][9][10][11][12]]. An increase in surface temperature was also observed over the past several years.…”

Surface mass balance of small glaciers on James Ross Island, north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula, during 2009–2015

“…of the cross-validation residuals obtained from the interpolation of the annual surface mass-balance grids. The determined uncertainty in annual surface mass balance should be considered a lower bound Engel and others: Surface mass balance of small glaciers on James Ross Island, north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula, during [2009][2010][2011][2012][2013][2014][2015] because local variations in the snow thickness are not addressed. The uncertainty in cumulative surface mass balance is calculated as the std dev.…”

“…Engel and others: Surface mass balance of small glaciers on James Ross Island, north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula, during [2009][2010][2011][2012][2013][2014][2015] the first decade of the 21st century, as indicated by the glaciological data from different parts of the northern AP including JRI (Davies and others, 2012;Navarro and others, 2013). The period of mass loss terminated in the mass-balance year 2008/09, after which the glaciers in the northern AP experienced a shift to mostly positive mass balances (Fig.…”

“…Engel and others: Surface mass balance of small glaciers on James Ross Island, north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula, during [2009][2010][2011][2012][2013][2014][2015] (e.g. Cuffey and Paterson, 2010).…”

Grain Size Distribution of Bedload Transport in a Glaciated Catchment (Baranowski Glacier, King George Island, Western Antarctica)

“…Furthermore, Reynolds and Froude numbers are also presented for both creeks (Figure 2a,b). The period of the field campaign was characterized by higher air temperatures relative to other summer months over the last decade [49,50,53]. The mean monthly air temperature was +1.0 • C in January and +1.1 • C in February for the period from 2007 to 2016 [54].…”