A Simple Law for Ice-Shelf Calving

A major problem for ice-sheet models is that no physically based law for the calving process has been established. Comparison across a diverse set of ice shelves demonstrates that iceberg calving increases with the along-flow spreading rate of a shelf. This relation suggests that frictional buttress...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Alley, Richard B., Horgan, Huw J., Joughin, Ian, Cuffey, Kurt M., Dupont, Todd K., Parizek, Byron R., Anandakrishnan, Sridhar, Bassis, Jeremy
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2008
Subjects:
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1162543
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1162543
Description
Summary:A major problem for ice-sheet models is that no physically based law for the calving process has been established. Comparison across a diverse set of ice shelves demonstrates that iceberg calving increases with the along-flow spreading rate of a shelf. This relation suggests that frictional buttressing loss, which increases spreading, also leads to shelf retreat, a process known to accelerate ice-sheet flow and contribute to sea-level rise.

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