Mechanical analysis of pinning points in the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Still, Holly, Campbell, Adam, Hulbe, Christina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2018
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; West Antarctica; Ross Ice Shelf; Annals of Glaciology; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2018.31; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305518000319

ABSTRACT Ice shelves regulate the rate of ice-sheet discharge along much of the Antarctic coastline. Pinning points, sites of localised grounding within floating ice, can in turn, regulate the flow and thickness of an ice shelf. While the net resistive effect of ice shelves has been quantified in a systematic way, few extant pinning points have been examined in detail. Here, complete force budgets are calculated and examined for ice rises and rumples in the Ross Ice Shelf, West Antarctica. The diverse features have different effects on ice shelf mechanics that do not depend simply on their size but may, we conclude, depend on the properties of seafloor materials.