Two Decades of Satellite Observations: Sensible-Heat Polynya Variability at Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica

Thermodynamically maintained open ocean areas surrounded by sea ice, or sensible-heat polynyas, are linked to key ice-sheet processes, such as ice-shelf basal melt and ice-shelf fracture, when they occur near ice-shelf fronts. However, the lack of detailed multi-year records of polynya variability pose a barrier to assessing the potential interconnectivity between polynya and frontal dynamics. Here, we present the first multi-decadal record (2000–2022) of polynya area at Pine Island Glacier (PIG) from thermal and optical satellite imagery. We found that although polynya area was highly variable, there were consistencies in the timing of polynya maximal extent, and opening and closing. Furthermore, we found that the largest polynya (269 km2) in our record occurred at PIG’s western margin just 68 days before iceberg B-27 calved, suggesting that polynya size and position may influence rifting dynamics. We suspect that large sensible-heat polynyas have the potential to reduce both ice-shelf buttressing (via reduced landfast ice) and shear margin dynamics (via reduced contact with slower marginal ice), which may lead to structural instability and eventually contribute to calving. Our new dataset provides a pathway to assess coevolving polynya and frontal dynamics, demonstrating the importance of building long-term records of polynya variability across the continent.