Simulation-Based Inference of Surface Accumulation and Basal Melt Rates of an Antarctic Ice Shelf from Isochronal Layers

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Hauptverfasser: Moss, Guy, Višnjević, Vjeran, Eisen, Olaf, Oraschewski, Falk M., Schröder, Cornelius, Macke, Jakob H., Drews, Reinhard
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Moss, Guy
Višnjević, Vjeran
Eisen, Olaf
Oraschewski, Falk M.
Schröder, Cornelius
Macke, Jakob H.
Drews, Reinhard
author_facet Moss, Guy
Višnjević, Vjeran
Eisen, Olaf
Oraschewski, Falk M.
Schröder, Cornelius
Macke, Jakob H.
Drews, Reinhard
contents The ice shelves buttressing the Antarctic ice sheet determine the rate of ice-discharge into the surrounding oceans. The geometry of ice shelves, and hence their buttressing strength, is determined by ice flow as well as by the local surface accumulation and basal melt rates, governed by atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Contemporary methods resolve one of these rates, but typically not both. Moreover, there is little information of how they changed in time. We present a new method to simultaneously infer the surface accumulation and basal melt rates averaged over decadal and centennial timescales. We infer the spatial dependence of these rates along flow line transects using internal stratigraphy observed by radars, using a kinematic forward model of internal stratigraphy. We solve the inverse problem using simulation-based inference (SBI). SBI performs Bayesian inference by training neural networks on simulations of the forward model to approximate the posterior distribution, allowing us to also quantify uncertainties over the inferred parameters. We demonstrate the validity of our method on a synthetic example, and apply it to Ekström Ice Shelf, Antarctica, for which newly acquired radar measurements are available. We obtain posterior distributions of surface accumulation and basal melt averaging over 42, 84, 146, and 188 years before 2022. Our results suggest stable atmospheric and oceanographic conditions over this period in this catchment of Antarctica. Use of observed internal stratigraphy can separate the effects of surface accumulation and basal melt, allowing them to be interpreted in a historical context of the last centuries and beyond.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_02997
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Simulation-Based Inference of Surface Accumulation and Basal Melt Rates of an Antarctic Ice Shelf from Isochronal Layers
Moss, Guy
Višnjević, Vjeran
Eisen, Olaf
Oraschewski, Falk M.
Schröder, Cornelius
Macke, Jakob H.
Drews, Reinhard
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
Geophysics
The ice shelves buttressing the Antarctic ice sheet determine the rate of ice-discharge into the surrounding oceans. The geometry of ice shelves, and hence their buttressing strength, is determined by ice flow as well as by the local surface accumulation and basal melt rates, governed by atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Contemporary methods resolve one of these rates, but typically not both. Moreover, there is little information of how they changed in time. We present a new method to simultaneously infer the surface accumulation and basal melt rates averaged over decadal and centennial timescales. We infer the spatial dependence of these rates along flow line transects using internal stratigraphy observed by radars, using a kinematic forward model of internal stratigraphy. We solve the inverse problem using simulation-based inference (SBI). SBI performs Bayesian inference by training neural networks on simulations of the forward model to approximate the posterior distribution, allowing us to also quantify uncertainties over the inferred parameters. We demonstrate the validity of our method on a synthetic example, and apply it to Ekström Ice Shelf, Antarctica, for which newly acquired radar measurements are available. We obtain posterior distributions of surface accumulation and basal melt averaging over 42, 84, 146, and 188 years before 2022. Our results suggest stable atmospheric and oceanographic conditions over this period in this catchment of Antarctica. Use of observed internal stratigraphy can separate the effects of surface accumulation and basal melt, allowing them to be interpreted in a historical context of the last centuries and beyond.
title Simulation-Based Inference of Surface Accumulation and Basal Melt Rates of an Antarctic Ice Shelf from Isochronal Layers
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
Geophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.02997