Ice shelf
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The flow-line model was designed to enable estimation of the age and surface origin for various ice bodies identified within hot-water drilled boreholes on Larsen C Ice Shelf. Surface fluxes are accumulated, converted to thicknesses, and advected down flow from a fixed number of selected points. The model requires input datasets of surface mass balance, surface velocity, vertical strain rates, ice-shelf thickness, and a vertical density profile. This model is part of a larger project. Input datasets such as density profiles and trajectory vectors are available separately. Resolution is dependent on the input datasets. Funding was provided by the NERC grant NE/L005409/1.
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The datasets are output from a flow-line model designed to estimate the age and surface origin for various ice bodies identified within hot-water drilled boreholes on Larsen C Ice Shelf (Hubbard et al., 2016, Ashmore et al., 2017). Two trajectories, based on remotely sensed velocities, allow surface fluxes from a regional climate model to be accumulated and advected down flow from selected points on the shelf. Vertical strain rates are taken into account, and surface mass balance is converted to thickness according to density profiles based on borehole data (Ashmore et al., 2017). The model output has a 250m horizontal resolution. These data are part of a larger project. The flow-line model code, the SMB datasets, and the borehole density profiles are also available. Funding was provided by the NERC grant NE/L005409/1.
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This dataset is an estimate of sub ice shelf bathymetry beneath the Thwaites, Crosson and Dotson ice shelves. The output bathymetry is derived from a compilation of gravity data collected up to the end of the 2018/19 field season. The input gravity dataset includes airborne data from Operation Ice Bridge (OIB) and the NERC/NSF International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), and marine gravity from the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer cruise NBP19-02. The recovered bathymetry was constrained by swath bathymetry in the open ocean, onshore airborne radio-echo depth sounding data and sub-shelf bathymetric observations from autonomous marine systems sent beneath the Dotson and Crosson Ice Shelves and seismic observations from the Crosson Ice Shelf surface. This bathymetric dataset supersedes the dataset of Jordan et al. 2020 (https://doi.org/10.5285/7803de8b-8a74-466b-888e-e8c737bf21ce ), as the new direct observations of sub-shelf bathymetry revealed the previously estimated depth of the basin beneath the Crosson and Dotson region to be ~400m too shallow. This inaccuracy is attributed to isostatic compensation of the deep basin, the mantle gravity effect of which was not considered in the original model. Included in the data release is the input free air gravity data, constraining bathymetry/sub-ice topography, isostatic gravity model, output gravity derived bathymetry including consideration of isostatic compensation which improves the fit to the new observed sub-shelf data and a final revised bathymetry dataset which incorporates the bathymetry from the gravity model with all bathymetric constraints. This work was funded by the Thwaites-Amundsen Regional Survey and Network Integrating Atmosphere-Ice-Ocean Processes (TARSAN) project, a component of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), from National Science Foundation (NSF: Grant 1929991) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC: Grant NE/S006419/1)
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***** A new version of the dataset is available ***** Jordan, T., Heywood, K., Wahlin, A., Hall, R., Muto, A., Dutrieux, P., Hogan, K., Girton, J., Alley, K., & Pettit, E. (2025). Updated gravity-derived bathymetry for the Thwaites, Crosson and Dotson ice shelves (2009-2022) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/baef2e88-300f-42bc-8ccb-bfdff147a492 ********************************************** This dataset is an estimate of sub ice shelf bathymetry beneath the Thwaites, Crosson and Dotson ice shelves. The output bathymetry is derived from a new compilation of gravity data collected up to the end of the 2018/19 field season. The input gravity dataset includes airborne data from Operation Ice Bridge (OIB) and the NERC/NSF International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), and marine gravity from the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer cruise NBP19-02. The recovered bathymetry was constrained by swath bathymetry and onshore airborne radio-echo depth sounding data in the surrounding area. Ice shelves mask the critical link between the ocean and cryosphere systems, and hence accurate sub ice shelf bathymetry is critical for generating reliable models of future ice sheet change. Included in the data release is the input free air gravity data, constraining bathymetry/sub-ice topography, and output gravity derived bathymetry. This work was funded by the British Antarctic Survey core program (Geology and Geophysics team), in support of the joint Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)/ National Science Foundation (NSF) International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). Additional specific support came from NERC Grants: NE/S006664/1 and NE/S006419/1, and NSF Grants: NSF1842064, NSFPLR-NERC-1738942, NSFPLR-NERC-1738992 and NSFPLR-NERC-1739003.
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