Dynamics and change of the Darwin Hatherton Glacial System

The Darwin-Hatherton glacial system offers a unique opportunity to investigate the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to future climate change. As well as draining the East Antarctic Ice Sheet into the Ross Ice Shelf, there is plenty of evidence of its past glacial history preserved in marginal moraine sequences. Earlier research has produced differing estimates of the amount and rate of recent change in the system, partly because of the absence of measurements of key controlling parameters including ice thickness, mass balance and climate. This research takes an integrated earth systems approach by combining glacial, geomorphological and climatological methodologies to obtain a set of information that will enable the system to be characterised and understood. This will include the collection of field data on glacier dynamics and thickness, the origin, nature and age of moraine sequences and the key characteristics of the mesoscale and local climate regimes. Remote sensing was used to develop preliminary geomorphological maps of the area that aided field interpretation of its recent glacial history as well as to determine the surface velocity field of the glacial system. Numerical modelling will be employed in the future to describe the past history of the system and to predict how it might respond to different future scenarios of climate change.