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Ross Sea Icebergs (B15A, C16, B15J, B15K, C25 and Nascent): Drift, weather and seismic data.

Entry ID: macayeal_0229546

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Summary

Abstract: During 2001-2006, 6 giant icebergs (B15A, B15J, B15K, C16 and C25) adrift in the southwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica, were instrumented with global positioning system (GPS) receivers, magnetic compasses, automatic weather stations (AWS), firn temperature profile sensors, seismometers, and automated cameras to monitor their behavior in the near-coastal environment and to record their exit into the ...

Related URL

Link: GET DATA

Description: This site mirrors the NSIDC website archive.

Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Description: NPR Web Archive: Alaskan Storm Plays Role of Butterfly for Antarctica

A scientist named Edward Lorenz once mused that a butterfly flapping its wings could cause a storm half-way around the world.

A storm in Alaska recently played the role of the butterfly for an iceberg located at the South Pole.

The Antarctic B-15 iceberg broke into pieces in October 2005, but scientists didn't know what caused the ice shift. But two researchers recently discovered the ice shift originated about 8,000 miles away –- in the Gulf of Alaska.

When B-15 broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000, two geologists from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University decided to track it using a seismometer, the device used to measure earthquakes. A year after installing the device, they began to analyze the data.

"The first thing we saw were signals from the great tsunami that devastated parts of the Indian Ocean back in December of 2004," says researcher Doug MacAyeal. "It was telling that we were able to see this event come into Antarctic waters and rock the icebergs."

McKale and his colleagues were more interested in what happened on October 27, 2005, the day the iceberg suddenly broke apart into a number of smaller pieces. The breakup didn't make sense to MacAyeal.

"We said to ourselves 'What in the world would make this darn iceberg break up on October 27, a day of roughly nothing going on,'" he says.

Using the seismometer, MacAyeal and his colleagues discovered that the iceberg had been hit by a series of waves 13,500 km away. They drew a line on a map that was about 8,000 miles away from B15 and wound up in the Gulf of Alaska.

"And lo and behold, there was a very fierce intense onset of winter storm in exactly the place our science had predicted the waves had come from," MacAyeal says.

He asked a colleague who makes surfing forecasts to determine how big the waves from this storm would have been.

"The wave heights for the storm were above 45 feet," MacAyeal says. "So these were monstrous waves."

By the time the waves traveled from the Gulf of Alaska to Antarctica, they were just a powerful swell. MacAyeal thinks the waves caused the iceberg to repeatedly pound the seabed, causing the great explosion.

MacAyeal notes that some climate forecasts predict more powerful storms as a result of global warming. He says that the B-15 story is evidence that those storms could hasten the breakup of other icesheets in Antarctica.

His findings are reported in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Description: PI's website

Multimedia Sample

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Description: February 8, 2007 NOAA-15 image showing B-15J. The new iceberg can be seen. Image shows AWS temperature in degrees Celsius.

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

N: -78.0

S: -78.0

E: -178.0

W: -178.0

Data Set Citation

Dataset Originator/Creator: Douglas R. MacAyeal

Dataset Title: Iceberg Data

Dataset Series Name: Series A

Dataset Release Date: August 15, 2008

Dataset Release Place: Chicago, IL

Dataset Publisher: University of Chicago

Version: 1.0

Data Presentation Form: asci text files and Matlab files

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 2001-01-25

Stop Date: 2008-06-31

Paleo Temporal Coverage

Chrono Unit:

PHANEROZOIC > CENOZOIC

Location Keywords

CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > ROSS SEA

Data Resolution

Latitude Resolution: 10 m
Longitude Resolution: 10 m
Horizontal Resolution Range: 1 meter - < 30 meters
Vertical Resolution: 0.1 m
Vertical Resolution Range: < 1 meter
Temporal Resolution: 1/100 sec
Temporal Resolution Range: < 1 second

Science Keywords

CRYOSPHERE > SEA ICE > ICEBERGS

SOLID EARTH > TECTONICS > EARTHQUAKES

ISO Topic Category

CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE

GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

OCEANS

Platform

FIELD SURVEYS

LABORATORY

FIELD INVESTIGATION

Instrument

CAMERAS

ANEMOMETERS

Project

NSF/OPP > Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation

USAP > United States Antarctic Program

Quality Refer to notes provided on the NSIDC website where data is archived.

Access Constraints None.

Use Constraints No constraints.

Ancillary Keywords

iceberg

icesheet

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Originating Center

University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University

Data Center

National Snow and Ice Data Center

Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org

Data Center Personnel
Name: NSIDC USER SERVICES Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199 Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468 Email: nsidc at nsidc.org Contact Address: National Snow and Ice Data Center CIRES, 449 UCB University of Colorado City: Boulder Province or State: CO Postal Code: 80309-0449 Country: USA

NSIDC Antarctic Glaciological Data Center

Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/agdc/

Data Center Personnel
Name: ROB BAUER Phone: 303-492-2378 Fax: 303-492-2468 Email: bauer at nsidc.org Contact Address: University of Colorado Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences CIRES 449 UCB City: Boulder Province or State: CO Postal Code: 80309 Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: DVD

Distribution Size: 9 Gbytes

Distribution Format: asci text files, Matlab files

Fees: none

Personnel

DOUGLAS R. MACAYEAL

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Phone: 773-702-8027

Fax: 773-702-9505

Email: drm7 at midway.uchicago.edu

Contact Address:

Department of Geophysical Sciences

University of Chicago

5734 S. Ellis Ave

City: Chicago

Province or State: IL

Postal Code: 60637

Country: USA

Publications/References

Brunt, K. M., 2008. Tidal Motion of the Ross Ice Shelf and its Interaction with the Siple Coast Ice Streams, Antarctica. (PhD dissertation, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, 202 pages).

MacAyeal, D. R., E. A. Okal, R. C. Aster and J. N. Bassis, in review. Seismic Observations of Glaciogenic Ocean Waves (Micro-Tsunamis) on Icebergs and Ice Shelves. Journal of Glaciology.

... Cathles, L. M., E. A. Okal and D. R. MacAyeal, in review. Sea-swell arrival at the front of the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, observed in a 2-year seismometer record. Journal of Geophysical Research.

Sergienko, O. V., R. A. Bindschadler, P. L. Vornberger and D. R. MacAyeal, under review. Block-wise inversion of ice stream basal conditions and simple regression models of ice streams: Application for Bindschadler Ice Stream. Journal of Geophysical Research.

MacAyeal, D. R., E. A. Okal, R. C. Aster and J. N. Bassis (2008). Seismic and hydroacoustic tremor generated by colliding icebergs. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, F03011, doi: 10.1029/2008JF001005.

Sergienko, O. V., D. R. MacAyeal and J. E. Thom (2007). Reconstruction of snow/firn thermal properties from observed temperature variation: Application to iceberg C16 (Ross Sea, Antarctica), 2004-2007. Annals of Glaciology, 49, 91-95.

Leonard, K. C., L.-Bruno Tremblay, D. R. MacAyeal, and S. S. Jacobs (2008), Interactions of wind-transported snow with a rift in the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L05501, doi:10.1029/2007GL033005.

MacAyeal, D. R., M. H. Okal, J. E. Thom, K. M. Brunt, Y.-J. Kim and A. K. Bliss (2008). Tabular iceberg collisions within the coastal regime. Journal of Glaciology, 54(118), 371-386.

Sergienko, O. V., D. R. MacAyeal and R. A. Bindschadler (2007). Causes of sudden, short term changes in ice-stream surface elevation, in press. Geophysical Research Letters. 34, L22503, doi:10.1029/2006GL027235.

Okal, E. A. and D. R. MacAyeal, 2006. Seismic recording on drifting icebergs: Catching seismic waves, tsunamis and storms from Sumatra and elsewhere. Seismological Research Letters.77(6): 659-671.

MacAyeal, D. R., E. A. Okal, R. C. Aster, et al., 2006. Transoceanic wave propagation links iceberg calving margins of Antarctica with storms in tropics and Northern Hemisphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(17): L17502

Brunt K.M., O. Sergienko and D. R. MacAyeal, 2006. Observations of unusual fast-ice conditions in the southwest Ross Sea, Antarctica: Preliminary analysis of iceberg and storminess effects. Annals of Glaciology, 44, 183-18.

Fricker, H. A., J. N. Bassis, B. Minster and D. R. MacAyeal, 2005. ICESat’s new perspective on ice shelf rifts: The vertical dimension. Geophysical Research Letters, 32(23): L23S08.

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2008-08-13

Last DIF Revision Date: 2009-01-08

Future DIF Review Date: 2009-01-01

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