Bathymetry and Ice draft maps for the Amery Ice Shelf cavity

The shape of the cavity beneath the Amery Ice Shelf is important for our understanding of ice shelf stability and freshwater input to the ocean and their dependence on climate. New seismic surveys of the centre region of the Amery Ice Shelf and ice-draft data taken at the grounding line has provided a considerable amount of new water-column thickness and bathymetry data.

The data is adjusted in the unknown region south of 71 degrees 35 minutes S by comparing the complex error between simulated tides against in situ GPS observations. A finite element, hydrodynamic ocean tide model is used to simulate the 4 major constituents (S2, M2, K1 and O1). The new data differs from a previous bathymetry map in a number of places.