In spite of importance of the ice shelves as a probable sign of global climate change, temporal changes of Antarctic ice shelf margins are largely unknown. In the present article, an attempt has been made for chronological mapping of major four Antarctic ice shelf fronts for the period 2001–2016, using MODerate resolution Imaging Satellite images. Vector layers of individual ice shelves from 2001 to 2015 have been overlaid on the image of 2016. It is found that all the four ice shelves have advanced; the Filchner ice shelf advanced maximum (24 km) and the Ross ice shelf advanced minimum (16 km). Maximum range in yearly rate of advance is observed at Ronne Ice Shelf and the highest variability in rate of advance is observed over Filchner ice shelf. In terms of area change, maximum expansion occurred at Ronne ice shelf (8813 km2) and least expansion is observed over Amery ice shelf (2520 km2). Poor correlation between rates of change at different ice shelves suggests that different atmospheric and oceanic drivers are responsible for changes at individual ice shelves. Interestingly, the highest rate of advance as well as higher variability in rate of advance is observed over the latter half of the study period.

中文翻译：

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2001-2016 年南极主要冰架边缘的时间变化

尽管冰架作为全球气候变化的可能标志很重要，但南极冰架边缘的时间变化在很大程度上是未知的。在本文中，尝试使用中等分辨率成像卫星图像绘制 2001 年至 2016 年期间南极四大冰架前沿的时间顺序图。2001-2015年单个冰架的矢量图层叠加在2016年的图像上，发现4个冰架都前进了；Filchner 冰架推进最大（24 公里），罗斯冰架推进最小（16 公里）。在 Ronne 冰架上观察到的年推进率的最大范围和在 Filchner 冰架上观察到的推进率变化最大。从面积变化来看，最大膨胀发生在 Ronne 冰架（8813 平方公里），而在 Amery 冰架（2520 平方公里）上观察到的膨胀最小。不同冰架变化率之间的相关性不佳表明，不同的大气和海洋驱动因素对单个冰架的变化负责。有趣的是，在研究期间的后半段观察到了最高的推进率以及更高的推进率变化。