Fig. 5: Highly variable melt rates are found beneath the TEIS.

a,b, Estimates of the spatially varying ice-shelf melt rate are shown for each of four subregions along T1 (a) and T2 (b) (r1–r4 are the same regions as in Extended Data Table 2). The ice surface is coloured by melt rate calculated along each slope (top panels) from the three-equation parameterization (Methods) under regionally averaged ocean conditions, demonstrating the increased melt rate along steep slopes. Horizontal coloured lines (bottom panels) correspond to the mean melt rates in each region. For regions r2 in T1 and r3 in T2, two means are presented, as conditions were observed to change with height in the crevasses, in which the water higher in the crevasses was colder and fresher than the water lower in these features. The lower bar indicates the melt rate determined by variable ocean forcing in the upper crevasse above the dashed lines in the top panels; the upper bar represents the mean melt rate below the dashed line in the crevasses. The means for each of these regions are as follows: T1: r1: 3.07 m year⁻¹; r2: 16.16 m year⁻¹ (below dashes), 9.72 m year⁻¹ (above dashes); r3: 3.48 m year⁻¹; r4: 4.11 m year⁻¹; T2: r1: 1.47 m year⁻¹; r2: 4.18 m year⁻¹; r3: 9.12 m year⁻¹ (below dashes), 6.82 m year⁻¹ (above dashes); r4: 5.76 m year⁻¹.