Intense atmospheric rivers can weaken ice shelf stability at the Antarctic Peninsula

Wille, Jonathan D.; Favier, Vincent; Jourdain, Nicolas C.; Kittel, Christoph; Turton, Jenny V.; Agosta, Cécile; Gorodetskaya, Irina V.; Picard, Ghislain; Codron, Francis; Santos, Christophe Leroy-Dos; Amory, Charles; Fettweis, Xavier; Blanchet, Juliette; Jomelli, Vincent; Berchet, Antoine

doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00422-9

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Intense atmospheric rivers can weaken ice shelf stability at the Antarctic Peninsula

Wille, Jonathan D.; Favier, Vincent; Jourdain, Nicolas C. et al.

2022 • In Communications Earth and Environment, 3 (1)

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/289720

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10.1038/s43247-022-00422-9

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General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Environmental Science

Abstract :

[en] AbstractThe disintegration of the ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula have spurred much discussion on the various processes leading to their eventual dramatic collapse, but without a consensus on an atmospheric forcing that could connect these processes. Here, using an atmospheric river detection algorithm along with a regional climate model and satellite observations, we show that the most intense atmospheric rivers induce extremes in temperature, surface melt, sea-ice disintegration, or large swells that destabilize the ice shelves with 40% probability. This was observed during the collapses of the Larsen A and B ice shelves during the summers of 1995 and 2002 respectively. Overall, 60% of calving events from 2000–2020 were triggered by atmospheric rivers. The loss of the buttressing effect from these ice shelves leads to further continental ice loss and subsequent sea-level rise. Under future warming projections, the Larsen C ice shelf will be at-risk from the same processes.

Research Center/Unit :

SPHERES - ULiège

Disciplines :

Earth sciences & physical geography

Author, co-author :

Wille, Jonathan D.

Favier, Vincent

Jourdain, Nicolas C.

Kittel, Christoph ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Sphères

Turton, Jenny V.

Agosta, Cécile

Gorodetskaya, Irina V.

Picard, Ghislain

Codron, Francis

Santos, Christophe Leroy-Dos

More authors (5 more)

Language :

English

Title :

Intense atmospheric rivers can weaken ice shelf stability at the Antarctic Peninsula

Publication date :

14 April 2022

Journal title :

Communications Earth and Environment

eISSN :

2662-4435

Publisher :

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Volume :

Issue :

Peer reviewed :

Peer reviewed

Tags :

CÉCI : Consortium des Équipements de Calcul Intensif

Additional URL :

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00422-9.pdf

Funders :

ANR - Agence Nationale de la Recherche
F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique

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since 19 April 2022

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