Past bed conditions and retreat behaviour of the Filchner Ice Stream system

• Applicant: Dr. Jan Erik Arndt
• Subject Area: Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics, Cartography ; Palaeontology
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 315394535

The future of large ice sheets remains a continuing major source of uncertainty in sea-level predictions. Most ice discharge from large ice sheets is through ice streams, and their flow is strongly modulated by processes operating at their beds. Although the Filchner/Thiel Trough was carved by one of Antarctica's largest palaeo-ice streams, relatively little is known about that ice stream's dynamic behaviour or the factors that controlled its flow. Detailed study of modern ice stream beds is very difficult because of the thick ice cover. This project aims to determine the bed conditions and flow regime in the Filchner Ice Stream System when ice last extended across the continental shelf, and to establish the subsequent pattern of ice retreat. This knowledge will provide wider insights into how ice stream bed processes modulate ice flow. Detailed hydro-acoustic data, seismic data and a series of marine sediment cores have been collected from several parts of Filchner Ice Stream bed by different national Antarctic programmes. Furthermore, the density of oversnow seismic soundings constraining the form of the bed beneath the Filchner Ice Shelf, which covers the inner part of the palaeo-ice stream path, is greater than on any other ice shelf. Based on collaboration between BAS and AWI, this project will collate and integrate all of the available geophysical and sediment core data from the Filchner Ice Stream System and analyse these data holistically for the first time to determine the past ice bed conditions and flow regime, and the pattern of ice retreat.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1158: Infrastructure area - Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Alastair Graham; Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Ph.D.; Dr. Robert Larter