Published in

Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (INVEMAR), Boletín de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, SuplEsp(50), p. 59-84, 2021

DOI: 10.25268/bimc.invemar.2021.50.suplesp.949

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Study of the Lange Glacier and its impact due to temperature increase in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

I n the western Antarctic Peninsula one of the areas the highest warming in the southern hemisphere has been identified. To characterize this tendency, we selected the Lange Glacier (LG) on King George Island, to evaluate: 1) LG surface temperature and dynamics using stakes with temperature data loggers; 2) LG submerged thickness and sea parameters through bathymetry (BT) and 29 CTD stations in front of LG; 3) glacier front (GF) using BT and a Digital Elevation Model (DEM); 4) change in GF position using DEM and historical data of GF width; 5) Calving flux (QC). Our findings showed 85 % of temperatures were above the 0 °C melting point (mean = 5.0 ± 5.2 °C). The stakes had an average ice loss of 9.3 ± 1.3 cm. The LG mean dynamics was 8.8 ± 1.5 m (0.40 ± 0.70 m/day), corroborated by Sentinel-1 satellite images (Offset Tracking = 0.43 ± 0.01 m/day). An intrusion of external waters warmer in the LG bay was identified, which destabilizes the water column due to convection processes. Our findings together indicated a continuous glacial melt that increases its dynamics due to the increase in temperature, with a contribution of fresh water to the Admiralty Bay. Based on historical results and this study, the LG retracement was estimated in 2,492 m between 1956 and 2019.