文章基本信息

标题：Changes in the ice plain of Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica
本地全文：下载
作者：Robert Bindschadler ; Patricia Vornberger ; Laurence Gray 等
期刊名称：Journal of Glaciology
印刷版ISSN：0022-1430
电子版ISSN：1727-5652
出版年度：2005
卷号：51
期号：175
页码：620-636
DOI：10.3189/172756505781829070
出版社：Cambridge University Press
摘要：Data from the mouth of the decelerating Whillans Ice Stream (WIS), West Antarctica, spanning 42 years are reviewed. Deceleration has continued, with local areas of both thinning and thickening occurring. The mean thinning rate is 0.48 ± 0.77 ma –1 . No consistent overall pattern is observed. Ice thickens immediately upstream of Crary Ice Rise where deceleration and divergence are strongest, suggesting expanded upstream influence of the ice rise. Thinning is prevalent on the Ross Ice Shelf. Grounding-line advance at a rate of 0.3 km a –1 is detected in a few locations. Basal stresses vary across an ice-stream transect with a zone of enhanced flow at the margin. Marginal shear is felt at the ice-stream center. Mass-balance values are less negative, but larger errors of earlier measurements mask any possible temporal pattern. Comparisons of the recent flow field with flow stripes suggest WIS contributes less ice to the deep subglacial channel carved by Mercer Ice Stream and now flows straighter. The general lack of geometric changes suggests that the regional velocity decrease is due to changing basal conditions.