Articles | Volume 11, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2411-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2411-2017
Research article
 | 
01 Nov 2017
Research article |  | 01 Nov 2017

Observationally constrained surface mass balance of Larsen C ice shelf, Antarctica

Peter Kuipers Munneke, Daniel McGrath, Brooke Medley, Adrian Luckman, Suzanne Bevan, Bernd Kulessa, Daniela Jansen, Adam Booth, Paul Smeets, Bryn Hubbard, David Ashmore, Michiel Van den Broeke, Heidi Sevestre, Konrad Steffen, Andrew Shepherd, and Noel Gourmelen

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Cited articles

Ashmore, D. W., Hubbard, B., Luckman, A., Kulessa, B., Bevan, S., Booth, A., Kuipers Munneke, P., O'Leary, M., Sevestre, H., and Holland, P. R.: Ice and firn heterogeneity within Larsen C Ice Shelf from borehole optical televiewing, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 122, 1139–1153, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004047, 2017.
Barrand, N. E., Vaughan, D. G., Steiner, N., Tedesco, M., Kuipers Munneke, P., van den Broeke, M. R., and Hosking, J. S.: Trends in Antarctic Peninsula surface melting conditions from observations and regional climate modeling, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 118, 315–330, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002559, 2013.
Berthier, E., Scambos, T. A., and Shuman, C. A.: Mass loss of Larsen B tributary glaciers (Antarctic Peninsula) unabated since 2012, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L13501, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051755, 2012.
Bindschadler, R., Choi, H., Wichlacz, A., Bingham, R., Bohlander, J., Brunt, K., Corr, H., Drews, R., Fricker, H., Hall, M., Hindmarsh, R., Kohler, J., Padman, L., Rack, W., Rotschky, G., Urbini, S., Vornberger, P., and Young, N.: Getting around Antarctica: new high-resolution mappings of the grounded and freely-floating boundaries of the Antarctic ice sheet created for the International Polar Year, The Cryosphere, 5, 569–588, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-569-2011, 2011.
Cape, M. R., Vernet, M., Skvarca, P., Marinsek, S., Scambos, T., and Domack, E.: Foehn winds link climate-driven warming to ice shelf evolution in Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 120, 11037–11057, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023465, 2015.
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Short summary
How much snow falls on the Larsen C ice shelf? This is a relevant question, because this ice shelf might collapse sometime this century. To know if and when this could happen, we found out how much snow falls on its surface. This was difficult, because there are only very few measurements. Here, we used data from automatic weather stations, sled-pulled radars, and a climate model to find that melting the annual snowfall produces about 20 cm of water in the NE and over 70 cm in the SW.