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Science 22 August 2003:
Vol. 301. no. 5636, pp. 1087 - 1089
DOI: 10.1126/science.1087231
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Reports

Tidally Controlled Stick-Slip Discharge of a West Antarctic Ice

Robert A. Bindschadler,1* Matt A. King,2 Richard B. Alley,3 Sridhar Anandakrishnan,3 Laurence Padman4

A major West Antarctic ice stream discharges by sudden and brief periods of very rapid motion paced by oceanic tidal oscillations of about 1 meter. Acceleration to speeds greater than 1 meter per hour and deceleration back to a stationary state occur in minutes or less. Slip propagates at approximately 88 meters per second, suggestive of a shear wave traveling within the subglacial till. A model of an episodically slipping friction-locked fault reproduces the observed quasi-periodic event timing, demonstrating an ice stream's ability to change speed rapidly and its extreme sensitivity to subglacial conditions and variations in sea level.

1 Ocean and Ice Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
2 School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
3 Department of Geosciences and EMS Environment Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
4 Earth and Space Research, Seattle, WA 98102–3620, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Robert.A.Bindschadler{at}nasa.gov

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)