RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

ICEBERG MELTING RATE &

SEDIMENT DELIVERY IN
ANTARCTIC COASTAL
WATERS
Donaire, J., Höfer, J., Hopwood., M.

jeremy.donairezamora@hotmail.com
1
Increasing temperatures in the atmosphere and the
Southern Ocean have generated the retreat of 95% of
glaciers in the Antarctic Peninsula, which has
incresed meltwater inputs along with glacier calving.

95 %
We analyzed the release of sediments
during iceberg melting in Maxwell Bay
(King George Island).
2 METHODOLOGY

a) Collect b) Monitor melt c) analysis

3 RESULTS

+
 3 RESULTS

Sediment release dynamics

Sediment (mg) hr-1 meltwater (kg-1)

1800.00

1600.00 f(x) = 1958.87 exp( − 0.09 x )

R² = 0.89
1400.00

1200.00

1000.00

800.00

600.00

400.00

200.00

0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Melting time (hours)

 4 CONCLUSIONS
The amount of sediment (mg) released per kg of meltwater
(kg) decreased exponentially with time. Therefore, most of
the sediment is released during the first hours after calving,
which limits the range where icebergs deliver sediments to the
ocean.

Global Warming

Ocean Warming