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Highly variable friction and slip observed at Antarctic ice stream bed

Hudson, T. S.; Kufner, S. K. ORCID iD icon 1; Brisbourne, A. M.; Kendall, J. M.; Smith, A. M.; Alley, R. B.; Arthern, R. J.; Murray, T.
1 Geophysikalisches Institut (GPI), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

The slip of glaciers over the underlying bed is the dominant mechanism governing the migration of ice from land into the oceans, with accelerating slip contributing to sea-level rise. Yet glacier slip remains poorly understood, and observational constraints are sparse. Here we use passive seismic observations to measure both frictional shear stress and slip at the bed of the Rutford Ice Stream in Antarctica using 100,000 repetitive stick-slip icequakes. We find that basal shear stresses and slip rates vary from 10$^4$ to 10$^7$ Pa and 0.2 to 1.5 m per day, respectively. Friction and slip vary temporally over the order of hours, and spatially over 10s of metres, due to corresponding variations in effective normal stress and ice–bed interface material. Our findings suggest that the bed is substantially more complex than currently assumed in ice stream models and that basal effective normal stresses may be significantly higher than previously thought. Our observations can provide constraints on the basal boundary conditions for ice-dynamics models. This is critical for constraining the primary contribution of ice mass loss in Antarctica and hence for reducing uncertainty in sea-level rise projections.


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000160159
Veröffentlicht am 04.07.2023
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-023-01204-4
Scopus
Zitationen: 7
Web of Science
Zitationen: 6
Dimensions
Zitationen: 10
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Geophysikalisches Institut (GPI)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsjahr 2023
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 1752-0894, 1752-0908
KITopen-ID: 1000160159
Erschienen in Nature Geoscience
Verlag Nature Research
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 15.06.2023
Schlagwörter Climate change, Cryospheric science, Seismology
Nachgewiesen in Scopus
Web of Science
Dimensions
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