Glaciares de Chile
- Glaciares del Volcán Melimoyu
- Glaciares del Nevado de Queulat
- Glaciares del Volcán Mentolat
- Glaciares del Volcán Cay
- Glaciares del Volcán Macá
- Glaciares del Volcán Hudson
- Glaciar Erasmo
- Glaciar San Rafael
- Glaciar San Quintín
- Campo de Hielo Norte
- Glaciar Nef
- Glaciar Colonia
- Lago Cachet II
- Glaciar Steffen
- Glaciares del Monte San Lorenzo
- Glaciar Jorge Montt
- Glaciar Lucía
- Glaciar Los Moscos
- Glaciar Bernardo
- Glaciar O’Higgins
- Glaciar Chico
- Campo de Hielo Sur
- Campo de Hielo Sur
- Glaciar Témpanos
- Glaciar Pío XI
- Glaciar Viedma
- Glaciar Perito Moreno
- Glaciar Dickson
- Glaciar Olvidado
- Glaciar Grey
- Glaciar Amalia
- Glaciar Pingo
- Glaciar Tyndall
- Glaciar Balmaceda
- Isla Desolación
- Glaciares de la Isla Santa Inés
- Seno Gabriel
- Glaciar Schiaparelli
- Glaciar Marinelli
- Fiordo Parry
- Cordillera Darwin
- Glaciar Garibaldi
- Glaciar Roncagli
- Glaciares Isla Hoste
Antártica
"Improved estimation of the mass balance of the glaciers draining into the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica from the NASA/CECS 2002 campaign"
Rignot, E., R. Thomas, P. Kanagaratnam, G. Casassa, E. Frederick, S. Gogineni, W. Krabill, A. Rivera, R. Russell, J. Sonntag, R. Swift and J. Yungel (2004) : “Improved estimation of the mass balance of the glaciers draining into the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica from the NASA/CECS 2002 campaign” Annals of Glaciology, 39, 231 – 237.
Resumen / Abstract.
In November–December 2002, a joint airborne experiment by Centro de Estudios Científicos and NASA flew over the Antarctic ice sheet to collect laser altimetry and radio-echo sounding data over glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea. A P-3 aircraft on loan from the Chilean Navy made four flights over Pine Island, Thwaites, Pope, Smith and Kohler glaciers, with each flight yielding 1.5–2 hours of data. The thickness measurements reveal that these glaciers flow into deep troughs, which extend far inland, implying a high potential for rapid retreat. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar data (InSAR) and satellite altimetry data from the European Remote-sensing Satellites (ERS-1/-2) show rapid grounding-line retreat and ice thinning of these glaciers. Using the new thickness data, we have reevaluated glacier fluxes and the present state of mass balance, which was previously estimated using ice thicknesses deduced largely from inversion of elevation data assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. The revised total ice discharge of 241 ± 5km3 a-1 exceeds snow accumulation by 81 ± 17 km3 a-1 of ice, equivalent to a sea-level rise of 0.21 ± 0.04mma-1. This magnitude of ice loss is too large to be caused by atmospheric forcing and implies dynamic thinning of the glaciers. This is confirmed by ice-flow acceleration observed with InSAR. We attribute the flow acceleration and ice thinning to enhanced bottom melting of the ice shelves by a warmer ocean, which reduces buttressing of the glaciers, and in turn accelerates them out of balance.