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The retreating Pine Island Glacier (PIG), West Antarctica, presently contributes ~5–10% of global sea-level rise. PIG’s retreat rate has increased in recent decades with associated thinning migrating upstream into tributaries feeding the main glacier trunk. To project future change requires modelling that includes robust parameterisation of basal traction, the resistance to ice flow at the bed. However, most ice-sheet models estimate basal traction from satellite-derived surface velocity, without a priori knowledge of the key processes from which it is derived, namely friction at the ice-bed interface and form drag, and the resistance to ice flow that arises as ice deforms to negotiate bed topography. Here, we present high-resolution maps, acquired using ice-penetrating radar, of the bed topography across parts of PIG. Contrary to lower-resolution data currently used for ice-sheet models, these data show a contrasting topography across the ice-bed interface. We show that these diverse subglacial landscapes have an impact on ice flow, and present a challenge for modelling ice-sheet evolution and projecting global sea-level rise from ice-sheet loss., Projecting the future retreat and thus global sea level contributions of Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier is hampered by a poor grasp of what controls flow at the ice base. Here, via high-resolution ice-radar imaging, the authors show diverse landscapes beneath the glacier fundamentally influence ice flow.

After the collapse of its neighbours, Larsen A and B, the Larsen C ice shelf is widely considered at risk of future climate-driven instability. Recent work has shown that the ice shelf is stabilized by soft melange in its suture zones, where adjacent flow units merge. Little is known about the mechanical properties of melange however, so that the quantification of its effect on the stability of Larsen C Ice Shelf has remained challenging. To identify the structural and elastic properties of the Joerg Peninsula suture zone in Larsen C Ice Shelf, we integrate seismic reflection and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) geophysical measurements. GPR transects reveal the presence of a stiff layer of meteoric ice, trapped between the softer melange beneath and the firn layer above. Monte Carlo analysis reveals that the seismic velocity of this melange is noticeably reduced compared to meteoric ice. By applying Hashin-Shtrikman bounds on the elastic moduli of a two-phase mixture of ice and water to the velocities, we are able to derive the elastic properties of the melange. We ascertain, significantly, that the melange is softer than meteoric ice because it contains a substantial volume fraction of water. The meteoric ice layer is buckling due to compressive lateral stresses. We suggest this process is analogous to fold buckling in sedimentary rocks. Using the ice flow model Elmer/Ice we are able to replicate this process, and thereby derive bounds on the rheological properties of the suture zone melange.

The measurement of ongoing ice-mass loss and associated melt water contribution to sea-level change from regions such as West Antarctica is dependent on a combination of remote sensing methods. A key method, the measurement of changes in Earth's gravity via the GRACE satellite mission, requires a potentially large correction to account for the isostatic response of the solid Earth to ice-load changes since the Last Glacial Maximum. In this study, we combine glacial isostatic adjustment modelling with a new GPS dataset of solid Earth deformation for the southern Antarctic Peninsula to test the current understanding of ice history in this region. A sufficiently complete history of past ice-load change is required for glacial isostatic adjustment models to accurately predict the spatial variation of ongoing solid Earth deformation, once the independently-constrained effects of present-day ice mass loss have been accounted for. Comparisons between the GPS data and glacial isostatic adjustment model predictions reveal a substantial misfit. The misfit is localized on the southwestern Weddell Sea, where current ice models under-predict uplift rates by approximately 2 mm yr-1. This under-prediction suggests that either the retreat of the ice sheet grounding line in this region occurred significantly later in the Holocene than currently assumed, or that the region previously hosted more ice than currently assumed. This finding demonstrates the need for further fieldwork to obtain direct constraints on the timing of Holocene grounding line retreat in the southwestern Weddell Sea and that GRACE estimates of ice sheet mass balance will be unreliable in this region until this is resolved.

We describe a geophysical technique to measure englacial vertical velocities through to the beds of ice sheets without the need for borehole drilling. Using a ground-based phase-sensitive radio-echo sounder (pRES) during seven Antarctic field seasons, we measure the temporal changes in the position of englacial reflectors within ice divides up to 900 m thick on Berkner Island, Roosevelt Island, Fletcher Promontory and Adelaide Island. Recorded changes in reflector positions yield 'full-depth' profiles of vertical ice velocity that we use to examine spatial variations in ice flow near the divides. We interpret these variations by comparing them to the results of a full-Stokes simulation of ice-divide flow, qualitatively validating the model and demonstrating that we are directly detecting an ice-dynamical phenomenon called the Raymond Effect. Using pRES, englacial vertical ice velocities can be measured in higher spatial resolution than is possible using instruments installed within the ice. We discuss how these measurements could be used with inverse methods to measure ice rheology, and to improve ice-core dating by incorporating pRES-measured vertical velocities into age modelling.

Mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGLs) are a characteristic landform on ice stream beds. Solving the puzzle of their formation is key to understanding how ice interacts with its bed and how this, in turn, influences the dynamics of ice streams. However, a comprehensive and detailed characterisation of this landform's size, shape and spatial arrangement, which might serve to test and refine formational theories, is largely lacking. This paper presents a detailed morphometric analysis and comparison of 4043 MSGLs from eight palaeo-ice stream settings: three offshore (Norway and Antarctica), four onshore (Canada), and one from under a modern ice stream in West Antarctica. The length of MSGLs is lower than previously suggested (mode 1000-2000 m; median 2892 m), and they initiate and terminate at various locations on an ice stream bed. Their spatial arrangement reveals a pattern that is characterised by an exceptional parallel conformity (80% of all mapped MSGLs have an azimuth within 5 degrees from the mean values), and a fairly constant lateral spacing (mode 200-300 m; median 330 m), which we interpret as an indication that MSGLs are a spatially self-organised phenomenon. Results show that size, shape and spatial arrangement of MSGLs are consistent both within and also generally between different ice stream beds. We suggest this results from a common mechanism of formation, which is largely insensitive to local factors. Although the elongation of MSGLs (mode 6-8; median 12.2) is typically higher than features described as drumlins, these values and those of their width (mode 100-200 m; median 268 m) overlap, which suggests the two landforms are part of a morphological continuum and may share a similar origin. We compare their morphometry to explicit predictions made by the groove-ploughing and rilling instability theories of MSGL formation. Although the latter was most compatible, neither is fully supported by observations.

The collapses of the Larsen A and B ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula in 1995 and 2002 confirm the impact of southward-propagating climate warming in this region. Recent mass and dynamic changes of Larsen B’s southern neighbour Larsen C, the fourth largest ice shelf in Antarctica, may herald a similar instability. Here, using a validated ice-shelf model run in diagnostic mode, constrained by satellite and in situ geophysical data, we identify the nature of this potential instability. We demonstrate that the present-day spatial distribution and orientation of the principal stresses within Larsen C ice shelf are akin to those within pre-collapse Larsen B. When Larsen B’s stabilizing frontal portion was lost in 1995, the unstable remaining shelf accelerated, crumbled and ultimately collapsed. We hypothesize that Larsen C ice shelf may suffer a similar fate if it were not stabilized by warm and mechanically soft marine ice, entrained within narrow suture zones., Signs of instability in the Antarctic Larsen C ice shelf have raised concerns that it might soon collapse like its northern neighbour Larsen B. Kulessa et al. combine an ice-shelf model with satellite and geophysical data to show that despite dynamic similarities, Larsen C is presently stabilized by marine ice.

Bedrock uplift in Antarctica is dominated by a combination of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and elastic response to contemporary mass change. Here, we present spatially extensive GPS observations of Antarctic bedrock uplift, using 52% more stations than previous studies, giving enhanced coverage, and with improved precision. We observe rapid elastic uplift in the northern Antarctic Peninsula. After considering elastic rebound, the GPS data suggests that modeled or empirical GIA uplift signals are often over?estimated, par t icularly the magnitudes of the signal maxima. Our observation that GIA uplift is misrepresented by modeling (weighted root?meansquares of observation?model differences: 4.9–5.0 mm/yr) suggests that, apart from a few regions where large ice mass loss is occurring, the spatial pattern of secular ice mass change derived from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and GIA models may be unreliable, and that several recent secular Antarctic ice mass loss estimates are systematically biased, mainly too high.

[1] The Glen exponent ncharacterizes the stress‐dependence of ice deformation, directly influencing the rate at which ice masses respond to external forcing. The slow deformation in large ice‐sheets makes laboratory rheometry at representative strain‐rates difficult. We develop a new technique to estimaten in‐situ, deploying a phase‐sensitive radar to measure vertical strain rates of around 10−4 yr−1within the top 1000 m of ice across ice divides at Summit and NEEM, Greenland. A fluid‐dynamical feature, the Raymond Effect, predicts strong vertical strain‐rate variation across divides over distances of a few ice‐thicknesses. We achieve sufficient resolution to show this pattern, enabling us to estimaten= 4.5 by inverting our observations with flow modelling. This is higher than values previously used but consistent with other indirect measurements, implying laboratory measurements do not explore the full range of ice rheology and the consequent possibility of a greater sensitivity and responsiveness in ice‐sheet dynamics.