Glaciology postdoc at the University of York | Greenland ice-marginal lakes | Antarctic surface meltwater and melt-dynamics
Pete Tuckett
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Many thanks to @jamesmlea.bsky.social, @drgilbz.bsky.social and all my other co-authors for their continued help with this work, which has been a long time in the making! @uoyenvironment.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social @envleeds.bsky.social @livunigeog.bsky.social @bas.ac.uk
Pete Tuckett
Excited to head into the field tomorrow for the final season of our MAGICaL project investigating Greenlandic ice-marginal lake temperatures. Expecting lots of ice melt based on the terrifying amount of water flowing through Kangerlussuaq at the minute...
In East Antarctica, we find that there has been a significant increase in the amount of surface meltwater ponding in recent years, with more variability from one year to the next.
I chatted to the amazing @drgilbz.bsky.social about our new paper (which Ella is also a co-author on!), which suggests that East Antarctica is becoming more prone to surface meltwater ponding. Check out the video below!
We used Google Earth Engine to map surface meltwater at monthly intervals across the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet between 2006 – 2021 (totalling over 130,000 Landsat 8 images).
Our research raises questions about the future behaviour of East Antarctica, because surface meltwater is predicted to become increasingly important for Antarctic mass-loss as atmospheric temperatures rise. An excellent comment piece by Alexandra Boghosian discussing this can be viewed here:
I’m delighted to share that our new paper is now out in @natclimate.nature.com! Our long-term, monthly Antarctic-wide dataset of surface meltwater shows that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is becoming increasingly prone to surface meltwater ponding.
We also find clear correlations between surface meltwater ponding and large-scale modes of climate variability, including links with the Southern Annular Mode in East Antarctica and the Amundsen Sea Low on the Antarctic Peninsula.
This increase in surface meltwater area in East Antarctica, without a corresponding increase in snow melt, indicates a potential shift in the ice sheet's surface properties, making it more prone to retaining meltwater in surface ponds.
Researchers led by @uoyenvironment.bsky.social and @sheffielduni.bsky.social have produced the first Antarctic-wide, high-resolution monthly dataset of surface meltwater using satellite images 🧊 💧
Open access article with data availability links in @natclimate.nature.com
doi.org/10.1038/s415... 🔓 📃
Pete Tuckett
Pete Tuckett
Pete Tuckett
This study provides a continent-wide assessment of surface meltwater area in Antarctica between 2006 and 2021, highlighting recent increases in magnitude and variability in East Antarctica, with indic...
