TY - JOUR T1 - Channelized ice melting in the ocean boundary layer beneath Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica. JF - Science (New York, N.Y.) Y1 - 2013 A1 - Stanton, T P A1 - Shaw, W J A1 - Truffer, M. A1 - Corr, H F J A1 - Peters, L E A1 - Riverman, K L A1 - Bindschadler, R A1 - Holland, D M A1 - Anandakrishnan, S KW - Antarctic Regions KW - Freezing KW - Ice Cover KW - Oceans and Seas AB - Ice shelves play a key role in the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheets by buttressing their seaward-flowing outlet glaciers; however, they are exposed to the underlying ocean and may weaken if ocean thermal forcing increases. An expedition to the ice shelf of the remote Pine Island Glacier, a major outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that has rapidly thinned and accelerated in recent decades, has been completed. Observations from geophysical surveys and long-term oceanographic instruments deployed down bore holes into the ocean cavity reveal a buoyancy-driven boundary layer within a basal channel that melts the channel apex by 0.06 meter per day, with near-zero melt rates along the flanks of the channel. A complex pattern of such channels is visible throughout the Pine Island Glacier shelf. VL - 341 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24031016 ER -