The Response of Ice Sheets to Climate Variability

West Antarctic Ice Sheet loss is a significant contributor to sea level rise. While the ice loss is thought to be triggered by fluctuations in oceanic heat at the ice shelf bases, ice sheet response to ocean variability remains poorly understood. Using a synchronously coupled ice‐ocean model permitt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2017-12, Vol.44 (23), p.11,878-11,885
Main Authors: Snow, K., Goldberg, D. N., Holland, P. R., Jordan, J. R., Arthern, R. J., Jenkins, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ablation
Amplitude
Antarctic ice sheet
Climate variability
Glaciation
Heat flux
Heat transfer
Ice
ice sheet response
Ice sheets
Ice shelves
Ice streams
Ice volume
ice‐ocean model
Land ice
Linear functions
Mathematical models
Melting
Migration
Ocean models
Oceans
Oscillations
Periodic variations
Residence time
Sea level
Sea level rise
synchronous coupling
Variability
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Summary:West Antarctic Ice Sheet loss is a significant contributor to sea level rise. While the ice loss is thought to be triggered by fluctuations in oceanic heat at the ice shelf bases, ice sheet response to ocean variability remains poorly understood. Using a synchronously coupled ice‐ocean model permitting grounding line migration, this study evaluates the response of an ice sheet to periodic variations in ocean forcing. Resulting oscillations in grounded ice volume amplitude is shown to grow as a nonlinear function of ocean forcing period. This implies that slower oscillations in climatic forcing are disproportionately important to ice sheets. The ice shelf residence time offers a critical time scale, above which the ice response amplitude is a linear function of ocean forcing period and below which it is quadratic. These results highlight the sensitivity of West Antarctic ice streams to perturbations in heat fluxes occurring at decadal time scales. Key Points Using a synchronously coupled ice sheet/ice shelf/ocean model, ice sheet response to climate variability is assessed Oscillations in thermocline depth at varying periods induce a nonlinear response in the amplitude of change in grounded ice The nonlinear response highlights the heightened sensitivity of fast flowing ice streams to climate variability on the decadal time scales
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/2017GL075745