Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf

Banerjee, Debangshu; Lilien, David A.; Truffer, Martin; Luckman, Adrian; Wild, Christian T.; Pettit, Erin C.; Scambos, Ted A.; Muto, Atsuhiro; Alley, Karen E.

doi:10.1029/2025jf008352

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Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf

Debangshu Banerjee

, David A. Lilien

, Martin Truffer

, Adrian Luckman

, Christian T. Wild

, Erin C. Pettit

, Ted A. Scambos

, Atsuhiro Muto

, Karen E. Alley

Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, Volume: 130, Issue: 9

Swansea University Author: Adrian Luckman

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DOI (Published version): 10.1029/2025jf008352

Abstract

Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS) is a partially confined floating extension of Thwaites Glacier, anchored by an offshore pinning point at its northern terminus. Over the past two decades, the shelf has experienced progressive fracturing around a prominent shear zone upstream of its pinning point, g...

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Published in:	Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
ISSN:	2169-9003 2169-9011
Published:	American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2025
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70868

first_indexed	2025-11-09T22:01:26Z
last_indexed	2026-01-09T05:31:31Z
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Here we present an analysis of shear-zone fracture evolution from 2002 to 2022 and its control on the flow dynamics of the ice shelf using satellite remote sensing and in situ GPS observations. We compiled multi-year statistics of fracture length and orientation from Landsat and Sentinel-1 imagery and compared their changes with evolving flow dynamics and surface strain rates. Ongoing disintegration driven by the shelf's shearing against the pinning point occurred in two stages: propagation of large shearing fractures approximately parallel to flow earlier in the record, followed by the rapid formation of smaller tensile fractures approximately perpendicular to flow later in the record. 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spelling	2026-01-08T12:41:51.6373201 v2 70868 2025-11-09 Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf 008cb668b2671b653a88677f075799a9 0000-0002-9618-5905 Adrian Luckman Adrian Luckman true false 2025-11-09 BGPS Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS) is a partially confined floating extension of Thwaites Glacier, anchored by an offshore pinning point at its northern terminus. Over the past two decades, the shelf has experienced progressive fracturing around a prominent shear zone upstream of its pinning point, gradually compromising its structural integrity. Here we present an analysis of shear-zone fracture evolution from 2002 to 2022 and its control on the flow dynamics of the ice shelf using satellite remote sensing and in situ GPS observations. We compiled multi-year statistics of fracture length and orientation from Landsat and Sentinel-1 imagery and compared their changes with evolving flow dynamics and surface strain rates. Ongoing disintegration driven by the shelf's shearing against the pinning point occurred in two stages: propagation of large shearing fractures approximately parallel to flow earlier in the record, followed by the rapid formation of smaller tensile fractures approximately perpendicular to flow later in the record. We also observed velocity perturbations originating from the shear zone and propagating across the main ice shelf, observationally demonstrating the direct impact that shear-zone disintegration has on the dynamics of TEIS. Journal Article Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 130 9 American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2169-9003 2169-9011 Thwaites; ice-shelf flow dynamics; ice-shelf fractures; ice/ocean interactions; strain rates; shear margin 1 9 2025 2025-09-01 10.1029/2025jf008352 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program; University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship; Centre for Earth Observation Science; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Grant Number: RGPIN-2021-02910; National Science Foundation. Grant Numbers: NSF OPP-1738992, 1929991; Natural Environment Research Council. Grant Number: NE/S006419/1. 2026-01-08T12:41:51.6373201 2025-11-09T17:46:32.9185409 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography Debangshu Banerjee 0000-0002-7282-1874 1 David A. Lilien 0000-0001-8667-8020 2 Martin Truffer 0000-0001-8251-7043 3 Adrian Luckman 0000-0002-9618-5905 4 Christian T. Wild 0000-0003-4586-1704 5 Erin C. Pettit 0000-0002-6765-9841 6 Ted A. Scambos 0000-0003-4268-6322 7 Atsuhiro Muto 0000-0002-1722-2457 8 Karen E. Alley 0000-0003-0358-3806 9 70868__35924__ab14eac3582b4f0baaabd14e2b647a8e.pdf 70868.VoR.pdf 2026-01-08T12:39:52.8810649 Output 5482854 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf
spellingShingle	Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf Adrian Luckman
title_short	Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf
title_full	Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf
title_fullStr	Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf
title_full_unstemmed	Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf
title_sort	Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf
author_id_str_mv	008cb668b2671b653a88677f075799a9
author_id_fullname_str_mv	008cb668b2671b653a88677f075799a9_***_Adrian Luckman
author	Adrian Luckman
author2	Debangshu Banerjee David A. Lilien Martin Truffer Adrian Luckman Christian T. Wild Erin C. Pettit Ted A. Scambos Atsuhiro Muto Karen E. Alley
format	Journal article
container_title	Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
container_volume	130
container_issue	9
publishDate	2025
institution	Swansea University
issn	2169-9003 2169-9011
doi_str_mv	10.1029/2025jf008352
publisher	American Geophysical Union (AGU)
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography
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description	Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS) is a partially confined floating extension of Thwaites Glacier, anchored by an offshore pinning point at its northern terminus. Over the past two decades, the shelf has experienced progressive fracturing around a prominent shear zone upstream of its pinning point, gradually compromising its structural integrity. Here we present an analysis of shear-zone fracture evolution from 2002 to 2022 and its control on the flow dynamics of the ice shelf using satellite remote sensing and in situ GPS observations. We compiled multi-year statistics of fracture length and orientation from Landsat and Sentinel-1 imagery and compared their changes with evolving flow dynamics and surface strain rates. Ongoing disintegration driven by the shelf's shearing against the pinning point occurred in two stages: propagation of large shearing fractures approximately parallel to flow earlier in the record, followed by the rapid formation of smaller tensile fractures approximately perpendicular to flow later in the record. We also observed velocity perturbations originating from the shear zone and propagating across the main ice shelf, observationally demonstrating the direct impact that shear-zone disintegration has on the dynamics of TEIS.
published_date	2025-09-01T05:33:49Z
_version_	1856987023161688064
score	11.096191

Evolution of Shear‐Zone Fractures Presages the Disintegration of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf

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