Glaciología

Glaciares de Chile

Antártica

"Reassessment of ice mass balance at Horseshoe Valley, Antarctica"

Wendt A., G. Casassa, A. Rivera & J. Wendt. (2009) : “Reassessment of ice mass balance at Horseshoe Valley, Antarctica” Antarctic Science, 21(5), 505-513.

Resumen / Abstract.

Horseshoe Valley (80º81’8″S, 81º82’2″W) is a 30 km wide glaciated valley at the south-eastern end of Ellsworth Mountains draining into the Hercules inlet, Ronne Ice Shelf. The ice at Horseshoe Valley has been considered stable; now we use Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements obtained between 1996 and 2006 to investigate ice elevation change and mass balance. Comparison of surface heights on a profile across Horseshoe Valley reveals a slight but significant elevation increase of 0.04ma-1 ± 0.002ma-1. The blue ice areaof Patriot Hills (,13km2) at the mount of Horseshoe Valley shows large inte rannual variability in area, with amaximum extent in 1997, an exceptionally warm summer, but no clear multi-year trend, and an elevation increase of 0.05ma-1 in eight years, which agrees with the result from Horseshoe Valley.

 

 

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