2018/12/31 by Daniel Goldberg, Noël Gourmelen, Satoshi Kimura +2 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Medicine · #Cryospheric studies and observations #Winter Sports Injuries and Performance #Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1029/2018gl080383
openalex publication_date 2018/12/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract Assessment of ocean‐forced ice sheet loss requires that ocean models be able to represent sub‐ice shelf melt rates. However, spatial accuracy of modeled melt is not well investigated, and neither is the level of accuracy required to assess ice sheet loss. Focusing on a fast‐thinning region of West Antarctica, we calculate spatially resolved ice‐shelf melt from satellite altimetry and compare against results from an ocean model with varying representations of cavity geometry and ocean physics. Then, we use an ice‐flow model to assess the impact of the results on grounded ice. We find that a number of factors influence model‐data agreement of melt rates, with bathymetry being the leading factor; but this agreement is only important in isolated regions under the ice shelves, such as shear margins and grounding lines. To improve ice sheet forecasts, both modeling and observations of ice‐ocean interactions must be improved in these critical regions.