Extensive and anomalous grounding line retreat at Vanderford Glacier, Vincennes Bay, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica

Abstract

Wilkes Land, East Antarctica, has been losing mass at an accelerating rate over recent decades in response to enhanced oceanic forcing. Overlying the Aurora Subglacial Basin, it has been referred to as the “weak underbelly” of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and is drained by several major outlet glaciers. Despite their potential importance, few of these glaciers have been studied in detail. This includes the six outlet glaciers which drain into Vincennes Bay, a region recently discovered to have the warmest intrusions of modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW) ever recorded in East Antarctica. Here, we use satellite imagery; differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR); and remotely sensed datasets of ice-surface velocity, ice-surface elevation and grounding line position to investigate ice dynamics between 1963 and 2022. Our results support previous observations of extensive grounding line retreat at Vanderford Glacier, measured at 18.6 km between 1996 and 2020. The persistent grounding line retreat, averaging 0.8 km yr−1, places Vanderford Glacier as the fastest retreating glacier in East Antarctica, and the third fastest in Antarctica, across decadal timescales. Such rapid retreat is consistent with the hypothesis that warm mCDW is able to access deep cavities formed below the Vanderford Ice Shelf, driving high rates of basal melting close to the grounding line. With a retrograde slope observed inland along the Vanderford Trench, such oceanic forcing may have significant implications for the future stability of Vanderford Glacier.