On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture
Abstract Crevasses can be ignored in studying the dynamics of most glaciers because they are only about 20 m deep, a small fraction of ice thickness. In ice shelves, however, surface crevasses 20 m deep often reach sea-level and bottom crevasses can move upward to sea-level (Clough, 1974; Weertman,...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1983
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000005177 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000005177 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0022143000005177 2024-06-23T07:46:41+00:00 On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture Hughes, T. 1983 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000005177 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000005177 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Journal of Glaciology volume 29, issue 101, page 98-117 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 journal-article 1983 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000005177 2024-06-05T04:04:44Z Abstract Crevasses can be ignored in studying the dynamics of most glaciers because they are only about 20 m deep, a small fraction of ice thickness. In ice shelves, however, surface crevasses 20 m deep often reach sea-level and bottom crevasses can move upward to sea-level (Clough, 1974; Weertman, 1980). The ice shelf is fractured completely through if surface and basal crevasses meet (Barrett, 1975; Hughes, 1979). This is especially likely if surface melt water fills surface crevasses (Weertman, 1973; Pfeffer, 1982; Fastook and Schmidt, 1982). Fracture may therefore play an important role in the disintegration of ice shelves. Two fracture criteria which can be evaluated experimentally and applied to ice shelves, are presented. Fracture is then examined for the general strain field of an ice shelf and for local strain fields caused by shear rupture alongside ice streams entering the ice shelf, fatigue rupture along ice shelf grounding lines, and buckling up-stream from ice rises. The effect of these fracture patterns on the stability of Antarctic ice shelves and the West Antarctic ice sheet is then discussed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet Barrett ENVELOPE(-126.773,-126.773,54.428,54.428) Weertman ENVELOPE(-67.753,-67.753,-66.972,-66.972) Clough ENVELOPE(-158.433,-158.433,-85.900,-85.900) Journal of Glaciology 29 101 98 117 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Crevasses can be ignored in studying the dynamics of most glaciers because they are only about 20 m deep, a small fraction of ice thickness. In ice shelves, however, surface crevasses 20 m deep often reach sea-level and bottom crevasses can move upward to sea-level (Clough, 1974; Weertman, 1980). The ice shelf is fractured completely through if surface and basal crevasses meet (Barrett, 1975; Hughes, 1979). This is especially likely if surface melt water fills surface crevasses (Weertman, 1973; Pfeffer, 1982; Fastook and Schmidt, 1982). Fracture may therefore play an important role in the disintegration of ice shelves. Two fracture criteria which can be evaluated experimentally and applied to ice shelves, are presented. Fracture is then examined for the general strain field of an ice shelf and for local strain fields caused by shear rupture alongside ice streams entering the ice shelf, fatigue rupture along ice shelf grounding lines, and buckling up-stream from ice rises. The effect of these fracture patterns on the stability of Antarctic ice shelves and the West Antarctic ice sheet is then discussed. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hughes, T. |
spellingShingle |
Hughes, T. On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture |
author_facet |
Hughes, T. |
author_sort |
Hughes, T. |
title |
On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture |
title_short |
On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture |
title_full |
On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture |
title_fullStr |
On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the Disintegration of Ice Shelves: The Role of Fracture |
title_sort |
on the disintegration of ice shelves: the role of fracture |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1983 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000005177 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000005177 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-126.773,-126.773,54.428,54.428) ENVELOPE(-67.753,-67.753,-66.972,-66.972) ENVELOPE(-158.433,-158.433,-85.900,-85.900) |
geographic |
Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet Barrett Weertman Clough |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic West Antarctic Ice Sheet Barrett Weertman Clough |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 29, issue 101, page 98-117 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000005177 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
101 |
container_start_page |
98 |
op_container_end_page |
117 |
_version_ |
1802647486311956480 |