Presenter(s): Ryan Obermeyer
Faculty Mentor(s): David Sutherland & Kiya Riverman
Poster 8
Session: Sciences
The West Antarctic Peninsula holds over 300 glaciers, all with unique environmental conditions. The peninsula is losing ice, but it is not fully understood what determines change for individual glaciers. Fortunately, Antarctica is rich in remotely sensed data. We use a suite of remotely sensed data to determine environmental controls on glacier retreat and thinning. Using Landsat- 7 and laser altimetry derived grounding lines, infrared temperature data, bathymetry swath data, Regional Ocean Modeling runs, and calculated retreat rates we have found more specific correlations between retreat and environment. Furthermore, the creation of the Reference Elevation Model for Antarctica (REMA) allowed for an opportunity to further our understanding of these systems with thinning rates. REMA is a 2m resolution elevation data base for Antarctica from 2009 through 2017. Here we calculate elevation change over time for the West Antarctica Peninsula from REMA. With these rates, we can spatially see how ice is changing on a 2m by 2m scale. We find that glaciers are sensitive to ocean temperature and are directly affected by Antarctic currents, and glaciers with floating tongues have potential for faster retreat. Glaciers in the southern portion of the West Antarctic Peninsula are retreating faster than glaciers in the north.