Grounding Line Retreat of Denman Glacier, East Antarctica, Measured With COSMO‐SkyMed Radar Interferometry Data
Virginia Brancato, Eric Rignot, Pietro Milillo, Mathieu Morlighem, J. Mouginot, Lu An, B. Scheuchl, Seongsu Jeong, Paola Rizzoli, J. L. Bueso Bello, Pau Prats
Abstract
Abstract Denman Glacier, East Antarctica, holds an ice volume equivalent to a 1.5 m rise in global sea level. Using satellite radar interferometry from the COSMO‐SkyMed constellation, we detect a 5.4 ± 0.3 km grounding line retreat between 1996 and 2017–2018. A novel reconstruction of the glacier bed topography indicates that the retreat proceeds on the western flank along a previously unknown 5 km wide, 1,800 m deep trough, deepening to 3,400 m below sea level. On the eastern flank, the grounding line is stabilized by a 10 km wide ridge. At tidal frequencies, the grounding line extends over a several kilometer‐wide grounding zone, enabling warm ocean water to melt ice at critical locations for glacier stability. If warm, modified Circumpolar Deep Water reaches the sub‐ice‐shelf cavity and continues to melt ice at a rate exceeding balance conditions, the potential exists for Denman Glacier to retreat irreversibly into the deepest, marine‐based basin in Antarctica.