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Mass balance of the Lambert Glacier basin, East Antarctica

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Abstract

Since it is the largest glacier system in Antarctica, the Lambert Glacier basin plays an important role in the mass balance of the overall Antarctic ice sheet. The observed data and shallow core studies from the inland traverse investigations in recent years show that there are noticeable differences in the distribution and variability of the snow accumulation rate between east and west sides. On the east side, the accumulation is higher on the average and has increased in the past decades, while on the west side it is contrary. The ice movement measurement and the ice flux calculation indicate that the ice velocity and the flux are larger in east than in west, meaning that the major part of mass supply for the glacier is from the east side. The mass budget estimate with the latest data gives that the integrated accumulation over the upstream area of the investigation traverse route is larger than the outflow ice flux by 13%, suggesting that the glacier basin is in a positive mass balance state and the ice thickness will increase if the present climate is keeping.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Ice Core and Cold Regions Environment, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Jiawen Ren, Cunde Xiao & Dahe Qin

  2. Antarctic CRC and Australian Antarctic Division, GPO Box 252-80, 7001, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Ian Allison

Authors
  1. Jiawen Ren
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  2. Ian Allison
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  3. Cunde Xiao
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  4. Dahe Qin
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Correspondence to Jiawen Ren.

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Ren, J., Allison, I., Xiao, C. et al. Mass balance of the Lambert Glacier basin, East Antarctica. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 45, 842–850 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02879518

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02879518

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