Earlier this year, Ian Joughin from the University of Washington and colleagues analysed satellite observations and GPS data
on ice motion from across a wide swathe of Greenland.
Zhang, J., D.R. Thomas, D.A. Rothrock, R.W. Lindsay, Y. Yu, and R. Kwok, «Assimilation of
ice motion observations and comparisons with submarine ice thickness data ``, J. Geophys.
The highlighted region in the middle figure shows a velocity field derived from these two days
indicating ice motion towards the South.
The discovery is the result of an analysis of gravity data from airborne NASA Operation IceBridge missions from 2009 to 2014 combined
with ice motion measurements made by researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), UCI's own mass conservation algorithm, and existing bed topography and ice thickness information.
Kwok, R., 2000: Recent changes of the Arctic Ocean sea
ice motion associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation.
A team of scientists has created the most complete map of
ice motion over the entire continent of Antarctica.
The project maps the ice sheet elevation and thickness in never - before - visited regions, extracted ice cores to look at the past 2000 years of climate, and investigated
ongoing ice motion and climate change effects in East Antarctica.
As the Feb. 8 storm passed over the North Pole, it created a strong
offshore ice motion, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
These graphs show Arctic sea
ice motion for May 2 to 8, 2016 (top) and July 25 to 31, 2016 (bottom).
The model shows that «there's no holding back,» Levermann says: Just a few decades of melting leads to «thousands of years
of ice motion.»
Mass balance, Meteorological,
Ice Motion, Surface Altitude and Runoff Data at Gulkana Glacier, Alaska, 1992 Balance Year.
The model shows that if melting continues for just a few decades it could result in «thousands of years of
ice motion,» says study co-author Anders Levermann.
What makes the omission of this paper from the AR4 interesting is that the language in the section on sea ice thickness indicates insufficient data for any conclusions on thickness trends and the section on pack
ice motion indicates no trend in pack ice motion based on limited data.
The change in circulation also shifted the pattern of
ice motion, slowing the earlier movement of ice away from the coast in the Beaufort Sea (as depicted in our May 3rd post).