Massive subsurface ice formed by refreezing of ice-shelf melt ponds

作者：Hubbard Bryn; Luckman Adrian; Ashmore David W; Bevan Suzanne; Kulessa Bernd; Munneke Peter Kuipers; Philippe Morgane; Jansen Daniela; Booth Adam; Sevestre Heidi; Tison Jean Louis; O' Leary Martin; Rutt Ian

来源：Nature Communications, 2016, 7(1): 11897.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms11897

Surface melt ponds form intermittently on several Antarctic ice shelves. Although implicated in ice-shelf break up, the consequences of such ponding for ice formation and ice-shelf structure have not been evaluated. Here we report the discovery of a massive subsurface ice layer, at least 16 km across, several kilometres long and tens of metres deep, located in an area of intense melting and intermittent ponding on Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica. We combine borehole optical televiewer logging and radar measurements with remote sensing and firn modelling to investigate the layer, found to be similar to 10 degrees C warmer and B170 kgm(-3) denser than anticipated in the absence of ponding and hitherto used in models of ice-shelf fracture and flow. Surface ponding and ice layers such as the one we report are likely to form on a wider range of Antarctic ice shelves in response to climatic warming in forthcoming decades.

• 出版日期2016-6