Double Basal Channels
Project Supervisor: Dr. Karen Alley (ORCID, Google Scholar)
Status: Currently Ongoing
Abstract
Basal channels are channels that exist on the base of ice shelves formed via warmer water carving them along the base. The channels can be detected via satellite imagery due to variations in the ice shelf surface, due to the thinning of the ice. As an understudied aspect of ice shelves this project seeks to examine a subset of basal channels in Antarctica that are closely parallel known as double basal channels. The goals are to identify these double basal channels from a wider dataset of channels in Antarctica and derive a classification system for these channels. The goal of this project and thus classification system is to better differentiate between the underlying mechanisms behind the formation of these double channels, how they evolve over time, and their effect on the ice shelf particularly in ice shelf stability.