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  • From May 2009 to May 2013, seven dual-frequency GPS receivers were deployed along a 120 km-long transect in the south-west of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Two additional dual-frequency GPS receivers were deployed perpendicular to longitudinal ice flow at ~14 km inland: one 5 km distant from June 2011 to May 2013, and another 2.5 km distance from May 2012 to May 2013. Each receiver recorded position observations every 10 seconds or 30 seconds (depending on configuration), enabling resolution of horizontal and vertical ice motion. Sites were powered by solar panels and operated 24 hours a day during summer but shut down in the autumn. Absolute ice displacements at each site were obtained for each summer and winter period in the absence of continuous measurements. Position measurements were kinematically corrected relative to an off-ice base station using TRACK (Chen, 1999). Daily velocities were then obtained by differencing across 24-hour periods, whilst continuous velocities were obtained through application of a sliding 6-hour differencing window. At each GPS site we also measured (1) the near-surface air temperature every 15 minutes year-round, (2) net seasonal ablation using ablation stakes, and (3) at several selected sites melt rates using sonic ranging sensors. This version 2 of the dataset updates the previously 2-day temporal resolution of the ice motion records to 1-day resolution. In other respects the dataset has not changed. Funded by NERC, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and The University of Edinburgh. Relevant grants: NE/F021399/1, NE/H024964/1 Studentships: NE/I52830X/1, NE/J500021/1, NE/H526794/1

  • From May 2009 to May 2013, seven dual-frequency GPS receivers were deployed along a 120 km-long transect in the south-west of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Two additional dual-frequency GPS receivers were deployed perpendicular to longitudinal ice flow at ~14 km inland: one 5 km distant from June 2011 to May 2013, and another 2.5 km distance from May 2012 to May 2013. Each receiver recorded position observations every 10 seconds or 30 seconds (depending on configuration), enabling resolution of horizontal and vertical ice motion. Sites were powered by solar panels and operated 24 hours a day during summer but shut down in the autumn. Absolute ice displacements at each site were obtained for each summer and winter period in the absence of continuous measurements. Position measurements were kinematically corrected relative to an off-ice base station using TRACK (Chen, 1999). Daily velocities were then obtained by differencing across 24-hour periods, whilst continuous velocities were obtained through application of a sliding 6-hour differencing window. At each GPS site we also measured (1) the near-surface air temperature every 15 minutes year-round, (2) net seasonal ablation using ablation stakes, and (3) at several selected sites melt rates using sonic ranging sensors. Funded by NERC, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and The University of Edinburgh. Relevant grants: NE/F021399/1, NE/H024964/1 Studentships: NE/I52830X/1, NE/J500021/1, NE/H526794/1

  • A ground-based radar survey consisting of 35 discrete quad-polarization measurement sites over three field seasons was undertaken on Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica. Sites A01 to A10 were collected on 20 January 2017, along a profile orientated perpendicular to the ice flow direction. The 10 sites are located between the central ice flowline and the ice-stream margin along a profile of length 8.5 km with the inter-site spacing decreasing toward the ice-stream margin. Sites B01 to B10 were collected on 05 December 2019, along a profile orientated parallel to the central flowline. The sites were surveyed with the first site 4 km upstream of site A01 and the inter-site distance spacing fixed at 4 km. Sites C01 to C11 were collected on 14 December 2018, and located between sites A01 and A02 at 200 m spacing. Sites D01-D04, collected on 25 January 2019, are downstream of A01 and form a diamond shape with 800 m spacing. At each site, polarimetric radar-sounding measurements were made using an autonomous phase-sensitive radio-echo sounder (ApRES), a frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar. The ApRES has a centre frequency of 300 MHz and a bandwidth of 200 MHz, which results in a range resolution of approximately 40 cm in ice. ApRES radar data were collected as part of the BEAMISH Project (NERC AFI award numbers NE/G014159/1 and NE/G013187/1).

  • We use polarimetric radar sounding to investigate variation in ice crystal orientation fabric within the near-surface (top 40-300 m) of Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica. To assess the influence of the fabric on ice flow, we use an analytical model to derive anisotropic enhancements of the flow law from the fabric measurements. In the shallowest ice (40-100 m) the azimuthal fabric orientation is consistent with flow-induced development and correlates with the surface strain field. Notably, toward the ice-stream margins, both the horizontal compression angle and fabric orientation tend toward 45 degrees relative to ice flow. This result is consistent with theoretical predictions of flow-induced fabric under simple shear, but to our knowledge has never been observed. The fabric orientation in deeper ice (100-300 m) is significantly misaligned with shallower ice in some locations, and therefore inconsistent with the local surface strain field. This result represents a new challenge for ice flow models which typically infer basal properties from the surface conditions assuming simplified vertical variation of ice flow. Our technique retrieves azimuthal variations in fabric but is insensitive to vertical variation, and we therefore constrain the fabric and rheology within two end-members: a vertical girdle or a horizontal pole. Our hypotheses are that fabric near the center of the ice-stream tends to a vertical girdle that enhances horizontal compression, and near the ice-stream margins tends to a horizontal pole that enhances lateral shear. ApRES radar data were collected as part of the BEAMISH Project (NERC AFI award numbers NE/G014159/1 and NE/G013187/1). Tom Jordan would like to acknowledge support from EU Horizon 2020 grant 747336-BRISRES-H2020-MSCA-IF-2016. ***** PLEASE BE ADVISED THIS DATA SET HAS BEEN RETRACTED ***** This data set had incorrect coordinates for one of the sites. In addition, some files were incorrectly labelled as belonging to one of the sites A new data set (see ''Related Data Set Metadata'' link below) addresses these issues and also includes significant additional data, as well as updated metadata and additional authors. Hence it is a wholly new data set, rather than an updated version of this data set. Please use this new data set instead.

  • We can learn about the flow of ice in Antarctica by evaluating the key parameters that control the flow speed. These parameters include the basal drag coefficient and the ice viscosity. They can be estimated by adjusting their values so that model velocities at the upper surface agree with satellite observations. This dataset was produced using inverse methods to obtain the parameter values. In this approach a cost function that describes the mismatch between model and satellite data is minimised iteratively by making small adjustments to the parameters at each iteration to improve the fit. The result is better information about the flow field in the Antarctic ice sheet. Once the flow field is available it can be used as an initial state from which begin temporally evolving simulations using the model. A number of different examples are included to show how varying different parameters alters the temporally evolving simulations. The contributing datasets used to constrain the model are listed by Arthern et al (2015) and Arthern and Williams (2017). Multidecadal model simulations span up to 100 years of simulation time. This work was funded by NERC standard grant NE/L005212/1.

  • This dataset contains simulations produced by the ice sheet model WAVI (Wavelet-based Adaptive-grid Vertically-integrated Ice-model), presented as netCDF files. The model domain is the Amundsen Sea Sector of the West Antarctic Ice sheet, including Pine Island Glacier, Thwaites Glacier and the ice streams that flow into the Crossen and Dotson Ice Shelves. The simulations start from initialised states representing approximately the year 2015 and are run for 150 years into the future. The WAVI model is a publicly available open source model written in Julia (Bradley et al., 2024). The initialised states are computed in the Matlab version of WAVI, following methods in Arthern et al. (2015) and Arthern and Williams (2017). These simulations were produced by the authors to study the effects of spatial model resolution and basal melt rates on projections of sea level contribution from this region. Funding was provided by NERC Feasibility Study Grant (Ref: 2021DTUC3Hosking) and ITGC THHWAITES-MELT (NE/S006656/1).