{
  "abstract": "The destabilization of ice shelves around Antarctica is not just a sea-level-rise priority, but an opportunity to observe and understand the mechanisms of ice-shelf failure. Recent studies show that ice shelves fail against their pinning points or ridges once sufficiently weakened by thinning and damage---a \"backstress-triggered\" failure mechanism that is not represented in ice-shelf collapse criteria employed by ice-sheet models. We suggest that fractures extending upstream from a pinning point/ridge are a signature of backstress-triggered failure. In this study, we identify controls on the spatiotemporal evolution of five such fractures on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf. Vertical propagation may have been limited by a heterogeneous layer above the fracture tip, which penetrates 70-80% of the ice column, as revealed by ice-penetrating radar. Horizontal propagation is correlated with relatively small, ~10 degree, fluctuations in the direction of ice flow in response to a weakening shear zone against the pinning ridge, possibly modulated by a change in ice thickness at the fracture tips. In hindsight, we suggest this style of fracture has occurred during other ice-shelf breakups around Antarctica. As an observable indicator that backstress-triggered ice-shelf failure is underway, these fractures may be a promising avenue towards a new collapse criterion.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Meghan Sharp"
    },
    {
      "name": "Erin C Pettit"
    },
    {
      "name": "Karen Alley"
    },
    {
      "name": "Martin Truffer"
    },
    {
      "name": "Adrian Luckman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Christian Wild"
    },
    {
      "name": "Genevieve Sauret"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f06zvpq96fk12.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31223/x5xj8b",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "f06zvpq96fk12",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15775/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Physical Sciences and Mathematics"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "basal crevasse"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "fracture propagation"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "glacier"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "ice shelf"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "thwaites glacier"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "west antarctica"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1902|Cryospheric studies and observations"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224001113",
  "pdf_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/object/15775/download/27324/",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f06zvpq96fk12.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:52Z",
      "native_id": "15775",
      "source": "eartharxiv",
      "url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15775/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:1902|Cryospheric studies and observations",
      "subfield": "atmospheric"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Drivers of The Daggers: Backstress-triggered fracture propagation on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, West Antarctica",
  "title_text": "Drivers of The Daggers: Backstress-triggered fracture propagation on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, West Antarctica",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:52Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f06zvpq96fk12",
  "venue": "EarthArXiv",
  "versions": []
}