Thinning of the Ice Sheet in Mizuho Plateau, East Antarctica

Abstract

Surveys of a triangulation chain 250 km in length were carried out in December 1969 and December 1973–January 1974 along the surface contour lines from 2250 m to 2600 m in Mizuho Plateau, East Antarctica. Horizontal velocities were obtained as small values near the Yamato Mountains, while they had maxima of more than 20 ± 0.7 m a^–1around long. 39° E., lat. 72° S. in the drainage of the Shirase Glacier. Submergence velocities showed large values, such as (0.7 to 1)± 0.25 m a^–1, in the region along lat. 72° S. from long. 39° E. eastward to long. 43° E. The amount of snow accumulation there, of average thickness 0.2 m a^–1, was not enough to compensate for the deficit of the ice mass caused by the submergence flow. It follows that the ice sheet was thinning there. It is suggested that the ice sheet of Mizuho Plateau is in an unstable condition as a whole.