Effects of calving and submarine melting on steady states and stability of buttressed marine ice sheets

Haseloff, Marianne and Sergienko, Olga V. (2022) Effects of calving and submarine melting on steady states and stability of buttressed marine ice sheets. Journal of Glaciology, 68 (272). pp. 1149-1166. ISSN 0022-1430

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.29

Abstract

Mass loss from ice shelves is a strong control on grounding-line dynamics. Here we investigate how calving and submarine melt parameterizations affect steady-state grounding-line positions and their stability. Our results indicate that different calving laws with the same melt parameterization result in more diverse steady-state ice-sheet configurations than different melt parameterizations with the same calving law. We show that the backstress at the grounding line depends on the integrated ice-shelf mass flux. Consequently, ice shelves are most sensitive to high melt rates in the vicinity of their grounding lines. For the same shelf-averaged melt rates, different melt parameterizations can lead to very different ice-shelf configurations and grounding-line positions. If the melt rate depends on the slope of the ice-shelf draft, then the positive feedback between increased melting and steepening of the slope can lead to singular melt rates at the ice-shelf front, producing an apparent lower limit of the shelf front thickness as the ice thickness vanishes over a small boundary layer. Our results illustrate that the evolution of marine ice sheets is highly dependent on ice-shelf mass loss mechanisms, and that existing parameterizations can lead to a wide range of modelled grounding-line behaviours.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: MH acknowledges financial support through a VC Senior Fellowship at Northumbria University. OS is supported by award NA18OAR4320123 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the US Department of Commerce. We thank an anonymous reviewer and T. Zhang whose comments helped to improve and clarify the manuscript.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Calving; ice dynamics; ice/ocean interactions; ice-sheet modelling; ice shelves
Subjects: F600 Geology
F700 Ocean Sciences
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 21 Mar 2022 11:28
Last Modified: 24 Nov 2022 13:00
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/48709

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